Maria's Adventures: Multiverse Patrols
by FourthWallBreaker
Summary: Summer has rolled around again, and now that Maria's out of high school she's itching for some adventure. Join her - and her friends and family - as she makes multiple trips to multiple worlds both old and new in order to help solve the problems that plague them, while also keeping an eye on things at home. The life of a World Jumper offers little to no rest, it seems...
1. The Long Journey Begins

"Hmm…no, no, that's not going to work now. That timeline just takes a turn for the cheesy and over-powered after that, and Maria's as powerful as she can be at this point…."

A pointy, red-orange fox ear twitches, and a pair of scholarly eyes look up from the thick book sitting on the desk. A pair of eyebrows shoot up a moment later, and the girl leans back in her chair as a smirk appears on her face.

"Well, hi! I wasn't expecting to have a visitor pop over like this! I'm FourthWallBreaker — some people call me FWB, and the people on Tumblr know me as crossroadsdimension, where some of my friends call me Cross." The girl chuckles, her nine red-orange fox tails twirling behind her in response to her amusement. "But you're not here to hear me blab on and on about me, are you? You're here for the stories that we've been following, and the adventures that Maria and her little group of friends have found themselves getting into."

FWB rises from her chair and walks around her desk and motions to the monitors that covers one of the walls — no windows for this office. "I've been trying to follow multiple versions of me across the cosmos for some time now, and I've found out recently that there's something going on on multiple worlds that's…troublesome." She points at a monitor that's fizzing and popping with static. "That used to be a first world that I discovered — and my first counterpart, Shifter, who most people might call an 'over-powered Mary Sue'. I haven't been able to recover any of my data on her, either, which means that I'm going to eventually have to just start over with her timeline from scratch."

FWB turns slowly, looking at the various monitors as her ears twitch back. "My point with this is not to tell you guys that I've posted her stories on FanFiction before — far from it! My point is that there is something happening to the various worlds that is taking them from my line of sight…and that's worrysome. If this keeps up, I might not be able to keep track of what Maria's up to."

FWB turns and looks at the reader. "Something is happening to my corner of the multiverse. I don't know what it is yet, but I know that I'm going to be keeping a close eye on everyone in Maria's circle of friends and family so that I can see where it is that the problem is coming from. Hopefully, whatever it is, Maria will be able to take care of it, because whether I want to or not, I can't personally get involved and mess with the timeline. That's god-modding, and I'm not planning on playing the part of a deity anytime soon."

FWB's ears flick back as her tails fan out. "I'm just a writer, not some all-powerful demigod playing with the universe."

FWB's ears flick forward again. "Anyway, I think it's about time you guys got back to following Maria yourselves. I probably shouldn't keep you here any longer than I already have. I'm going to warn you now, though, that this is going to be one of the longer adventures that Maria's going to have. There are a lot of worlds out there, and they all are going to need attention from one World Jumper or another. Now, off with you! I have stories to write!"

 **Chapter 1 - The Long Journey Begins**

Maria sighed as she took her graduation cap off her head and tossed it over onto her bed as she pulled off the oversized gown, revealing red, orange, and gray armor that looked like it belonged to a video game character. "Well, that takes care of high school...and I almost went the entire year without needing to World Jump or _anything_ like that. Man, that feels weird."

"Well, it's not like we're going to be needed all the time," Liz responded from where she leaned against the wall. She pushed her long, brown hair away from her face and nudged her glasses up her nose. "Worlds can take care of themselves, right?"

"Well, yeah, but there are a lot of them, you know..." Maria paused in the middle of folding up the graduation gown, one gloved hand resting on top of the fabric She let out a sigh. "It just feels so _weird,_ knowing that there are other worlds out there, and I haven't been gone out and done _anything_ with them all school year! I was expecting something for _at least_ Spring Break!"

"Is that it?" Liz blinked a couple times, raising an eyebrow. "Can't you just accept that you can live a normal life for at least a little bit? Besides, we have our own world to take care of, remember?"

"Well, yeah." Maria frowned, her blue eyes almost seeming to darken a shade. "I'm not about to forget about that stupid war with the Cons, or some of the stuff we've done up on Cybertron, but none of what's happened up there has really needed a World Jumper to intervene or anything like that." She dropped the folded gown on her bed, then smiled and chuckled to herself. "Still, I'm glad that I'm able to help out with stuff like that." Maria paused, blinking at her own words. "You know, speaking of which, my friends on the other worlds I've been to haven't heard from me for a while now..."

Liz frowned, her own blue eyes gaining a curious – if cautious – light to them. "What are you planning on doing?"

"Well, now that I'm out of high school, I figured that I could do a few patrols through the different worlds." Maria pushed a strand of her own light brown hair out of her face, tucking it behind her left ear. "I mean, it _has_ been a while since I've been to some of them, and I'd like to check in on how they're doing."

"Without any feeling that anything's wrong? Is that really all right?"

"I think so." Maria shrugged. "I mean, they know that I'm involved in those worlds, so popping in from time to time to see if anything's up will keep me from getting the headaches and random visions in the middle of things." Her expression brightened a little. "Say! Maybe you could end up doing some patrols with me! What do you say? You haven't been off-world since the whole Cyrus incident near the end of school last year."

"I happen to like to be able to relax, thank you very much," Liz responded in a snarky tone. "I don't really think so much about this kind of thing - not like you do. I'm a lot more content with just having gone out those two times - more than enough adventure for me, thank you very much!"

Maria frowned, disappointed. "Oh, come on. It doesn't exactly seem fair that I'm the only one that's jumping around to different worlds now."

Liz frowned. "You have Khrista doing that too, don't you?"

"Not like I can!" Maria snorted. "Khrista said that she gets pulled into things like Mom and Dad did - she can't make portals. She gets teleported."

Liz blinked a couple times when she heard that. "Really? I didn't know that."

"Well, now you do." Maria sighed and leaned against her wardrobe, which faced the open closet and had its back to the girls' bunk bed. "Look, for the past couple of weeks I've been getting a strange, itchy feeling at the back of my head. I'm not sure where it's coming from, but I really want to find out its origins. Maybe traveling to worlds I've already been to will help me find the source."

Liz frowned. "Well, if you really feel like that's what you have to do, then go ahead and do it. I'm definitely not going to stop you." She shrugged.

Maria blinked a couple times at that, then gave a slight smile and a nod. "Yeah. I'm going downstairs so that I can let the others know what I'm planning. I don't think I'll leave for a couple more days yet, but giving them a heads-up would be a pretty good idea."

"Yeah, you go do that." Liz waved her sister to the door in a somewhat irritated manner. "I'm going to do something else that's not going to take me to another dimension."

Maria chuckled in response, then moved out of the room and downstairs. As she went, her armor flickered before changing into a red jacket, orange shirt, jeans, and white-and-red shoes. Her clothes flickered again, revealing the armor underneath for a moment longer, but then the disguise solidified.

"Hey!" Maria's blue-eyed, brown-haird older brother, Matthew, greeted her as she reached the base of the stairs, a wide grin on his face. "How does it feel to be out of high school?"

"Not much different from what I normally feel," Maria responded to her brother's question. "I guess it hasn't really sunk in."

"It will next August," Matthew insisted with a meaningful nod. "Trust me."

"All right. If you say so." Maria chuckled at her brother, then turned and headed into the kitchen, where her parents were starting to pull food out of the fridge for lunch. "Hey, Mom? Dad?"

"Yes, my newly graduated daughter?" A man with brown hair and blue eyes looked up from the inside of the fridge with a cheery smile.

"Something's bugging me, but I'm not sure what it is. I think it's got something to do with other worlds, but I'm not sure." Maria rubbed the back of her head as her parents' movements slowed.

Morgen closed the fridge door. "You're heading out?"

Maria hesitated for a moment, then nodded. "In a couple of days. I'll stick around for a few parties and things like that, but after that, I think I'm going to head out to the worlds I've been to in order to see what's going on. You don't mind, do you?"

Morgen exchanged looks with his wife – a woman with frizzy black hair and green eyes – while a boy with blond hair and blue eyes – Collin – entered the room.

"Well, technically, you're an adult now," Morgen said finally. He let out a sigh. "I'm not about to try and stop you from doing something that you've been doing for a while now, but I am going to ask that you come back home sometimes and let us know how you're doing. Sound good?"

Maria nodded. "Yeah. I don't know what I'm going to end up doing here, now that I'm out of school, but-"

"You could take a year off before thinking about college," Katie - Maria's mom - suggested. "That next step in education would be a good idea, though."

"Yeah, but...what would I do?" Maria shrugged helplessly. "I can't exactly take a course in World-Jumping, can I? And if I do end up taking a regular job, I'll probably get called away sometimes to take care of stuff on other worlds."

"That's going to stop eventually," Morgen pointed out. "It did for us, remember? Twelve, thirteen years ago?"

"You were married and had kids by then," Maria pointed out. She placed a hand on her chest, clothes flickering to reveal her armor again. "I'm not exactly someone who can _have_ kids at this point."

"Well, you are a Reploid." Matthew nodded a little. "I guess that would make things kinda difficult."

Maria snorted, rolling her eyes. "Gee, ya think?" Her mouth became a straight line. "Plus, there's the issue with me being unable to physically age. Anyone that I would end up getting married to would get old and die before I could get a chance to rust to pieces, what with how advanced this tech is." She motioned to herself, as though that was proof enough.

Katie's eyebrows came together as her green eyes sparked in concern. "Yeah, that would be a little problematic, wouldn't it?" She sighed and shook her head. "Well, I hope that you think of something that will allow you to take a break, Maria."

"Yeah." Maria nodded in agreement, looking subdued.

 **Time Break**

Three days later, like Maria had said, she stepped out of the house with an orange backpack over one shoulder and a number of other supplies hiding in the subspace pocket that she had discovered last summer with a little help from a friend. Feeling actually prepared for any journey that she could end up taking, Maria stood out on the sidewalk with a thoughtful expression on her face.

"Okay...where should I go and have a look around first?" Maria frowned and cocked her head to one side in thought. "I could go in order...enough time's probably passed so that I'd get to Atlantis in time for the second movie...probably. And then there's Kalos...that game didn't come out too long ago - I could probably make it there after the new Champion gets crowned..."

"Thinking about heading out to other worlds?"

Maria looked up in surprise, blinking for a moment before catching sight of one of her neighbors - a teenage boy with brown hair and indigo eyes. His blue and green outfit didn't quite seem to be there in the mid-morning light, but that was something that very few people would have known to look for.

"Yeah." Maria nodded, turning to look at her neighbor. "I've been getting a weird itching feeling at the back of my mind for the past few days. Something's up, but I'm not sure what it is, so I'm going to head out and have a look around at the worlds I know about - maybe go to worlds that I haven't been to yet. Like Marvel's."

"Are you sure going to Marvel is such a good idea?" There was a doubtful tone in the boy's voice. "They have a lot more superhero wars than any other area that I know of. If you go there, you could end up getting pulled into one of their unnatural disasters, and who knows what would happen then."

Maria frowned at that. "Hmmm...yeah, seeing _Age of Ultron_ does kinda make me think it'd be a bad idea if I ended up getting involved without a vision to push me in that direction. You happen to have any suggestions, Joshua?"

"Go to the ones you know first," Joshua responded. "I should think that would be obvious."

"But what order?" Maria frowned. "I mean, I've been to a good number of worlds by now, but I don't know which one I should really go for first. I could go in the order that I went to them at first, or I could just go through them at random. I don't really know what I want to do."

"You could wait until you get a vision," Joshua suggested. "Or maybe a message of some kind."

"Well, what kind of message would you suggest?" Maria responded in a snarky tone.

 _Beep! Beep! Beep!_

Maria stiffened in surprise when the noise that meant "incoming message!" resounded through her head. Looking over at Joshua with a deadpan expression, she pointed to her left ear before turning away from him and pressing her left ear with one hand. "Hello? Maria Carlsdale speaking."

 _::This is Maverick Hunter Base::_

Maria stiffened when she heard what the female voice on the other end said. "Maverick Hun - _how_ did you get my _comm number_?"

Joshua's eyes widened slightly at Maria's words. "Maverick Hunter?"

 _::That's not important right now::_

"Not important?" Maria snorted. "Not for _you,_ maybe. What made you guys hunt down the number of somebody who disappeared after the last Wily War, anyway?"  
There was some muttering on the other end about chasing rumors before the voice spoke again. _::We are having massive Maverick outbreaks and we're calling in every able-bodied Reploid in order to ensure that they're not infected. We found records of you in the remains of Dr. Light's notes, and having you here would be better than if you were taken over by the virus::_

"Remains of Light's notes?" Maria frowned. "Then you don't know everything about me. You're going to want to _complete_ that data too, aren't you?"

"Maria, what's going on?"

Maria held up her right hand at Joshua's question in a "hang on a minute" gesture.

 _::...your assistance in that would be appreciated, yes::_

Maria frowned, considering what it was that the Reploid on the other side on the connection was suggesting. "So there's another Maverick outbreak. Is there something about it that's making you hunt me down when you weren't bothered to find me before?"

Joshua's eyes widened as Maria lowered her hand.

 _::You were a mere rumor before we managed to confirm that you were something that Dr. Light had created::_ There was an irritated sigh. _::The Maverick outbreak this time isn't being caused by a strain of the Sigma Virus we've seen before. We want to make sure that you're not in any danger::_

Maria blinked at that, then frowned. "You _really_ don't know anything about me. Not that that's an insult - I know it's been...a long time since Dr. Light walked on the earth. While I _am_ safe from the virus in my present location, if you want to make sure that I'm safe for good, I don't see why I can't pop over."

 _::I can send in a team to-::_

"At this point, you don't need to; the people here are pretty peaceful, and I don't want to have that peace disturbed. I'm going to head _out_ of the area, and then I'll let you know where I am so that you can come get me." Maria paused, seeing the expression that was on Joshua's face. "And I'm bringing another Reploid with me, too - he's a close friend of mine; I've taken to calling him my cousin."

The voice spluttered. _::Are you sure that's wise?::_

"Joshua's going to hole himself up in a lab the first chance he gets. The ideas he has in his head will probably be a big help." Maria shot Joshua a grin, and he gave a nod in return. "I don't know what's going to happen when I leave where I'm at; my arrival might be a bit...unconventional, I guess. I don't completely know where I'm going to end up. but I do have a pretty good idea."

 _::How ancient is the technology that you are using, exactly?::_

"More like 'unpredictable'. Just keep your eyes open, that's all the advice I can give you." Maria grinned a little sheepishly. "I'd better get going now. If I'm going to be able to meet up with you guys, then I've got to get moving now, and I don't think that my comm's gonna hold the signal through what I'm going to do."

 _::I appreciate the warning::_

Maria lowered her hand from her ear as the link was cut. "Well, looks like I've got my first place to head to, and you're coming with me."

Joshua nodded as Maria's backpack flickered before fading out of existence. At the same time, their clothes flickered, revealing the armor underneath - Maria's colored red, orange and gray, and Joshua's cobalt and green. "I'm ready to go."

Maria nodded in reply, smirking as she snapped her fingers. In an instant, a blue, swirling vortex appeared next to them. "Let's go."

 **Patrols is going to span across multiple stories in multiple dimensions, following not only Maria but her friends and family as well. I've got ten story arcs planned of various lengths, and I've completed the first one already.**

 **Just figured you guys would want to know.**

 **Anyway, I'll see you next week!**


	2. MegaMan X part 1

**Hi, guys! Maria's begun her summer patrolling of multiple dimensions, and it's time we started following her around!**

 **Thanks to Shadow-Wolf-Hikaru, animebella09, and kat151820 for the Favs and Follows!**

 **Shadescribe - Yup! It's just a matter of getting things written out - I'm only just starting work on the second arc, and that one looks like it's going to be a pretty long one. I'm more than up to the challenge, though!**

 **OPFan37 - Hi! *waves* Your place is made of sweets, huh? I hope your not _too_ tempted to start eating everything! I'm grinning from ear to ear right now because your praise of my fics is sending me over the moon! Ha ha! Your fics are incredible too, ya know - I like your characters and the sorts of abilities they end up getting in their various worlds! I've kinda limited myself to one - Maria - but it's still fun to throw her into all sorts of interesting situations. Oooh, cupcakes...*mouth waters a little* Good luck figuring things out over there! I hope you get everything ironed out!**

 **Maria: Thanks, buddy! I'm looking forward to being able to see old friends and maybe make a few new ones!**

 **SabaraOne - You do have a point with the alternate form of reproduction, but Maria isn't aware of it right now. *shrugs* She might become aware of it later, but then the problem is finding someone who she would be willing to live and work alongside. Her spouse would have to be someone who would be able to keep up with her and handle all the situations that she gets herself into...which, all things considered, is actually going to get to be quite dangerous.**

 **Anyway, here we go - onto the first arc!**

 **Chapter 2 - MegaMan X part 1**

 **Maria's POV**

The portal opened somewhere between expected and unexpected.

Expected: Maverick Hunter Base, which is going to be so _fun_ to explain to the Hunters.

Unexpected: in a _hallway_ right in front of a Reploid.

And not just _any_ Reploid.

"What the _heck?!"_ A pair of green-blue eyes narrowed into slits, and the red-and-white armored Reploid in front of us shifted into an attack stance as he reached for the lightsaber-looking device on his back.

I quickly deactivated my portal and held my hands up defensively. "H-hey! I said that my leaving where I was would make my arrival a bit unpredictable! Don't blame _me_ for showing up in here!"

The Reploid paused at that, then raised an eyebrow. "Wait, _you're_ X's sister?"

I chuckled nervously. Oh, good; we weren't going to get skewered by a laser beam. "Y-yeah. Hi."

I got a sour frown from the Maverick Hunter as he relaxed his stance. "I'm guessing he's your 'cousin' then?" He motioned to Joshua.

Joshua gave a nod. "I'm Joshua."

The other grunted. "Zero. Come on; might as well let Signas and X know that you saved us a load of trouble in hunting you down." He moved past us and started down the hall; Joshua and I didn't waste any time following after him.

"How long's it been since you guys managed to contact me?" I asked.

"Five minutes." Zero's words were terse. "What I want to know is how you managed to _teleport_ right into the middle of our base without a _transerver_ to receive you."

Oh, boy. Of course he'd ask about the portal.

"I doubt that you'd believe me," I commented.

I felt a chill run down my spine when I saw the annoyed look that Zero gave me. "Try me."

"Maria and I are from an alternate dimension and we are able to make rips in space that allows us to travel between worlds."

Zero's gaze moved from me to Joshua as we reached the end of the hallway, and then he looked back at me with narrowed eyes as I nodded. "You're right. I _don't_ believe you."

I shrugged and shook my head as we stepped out of the hallway and into a large room that had a whole lot of Reploids standing in it already. Most of them were in a crowd that happened to be in front of us, and I felt the gazes of everyone in the room lock onto me and Joshua.

Oh, boy. This was going to be fun _._

"Zero! You're late!"

Zero snorted at the tall Reploid in military uniform. "Yeah, well, you can blame these two for that, Signas. X, I found your sister. I don't know _how_ crazy your family is, but _she_ says she made a _portal_ from _another dimension._ If that doesn't sound like she has a few screws loose, I don't know _what_ does."

I _really_ wanted to slap my face with my hand, but I just settled for clenching them tightly.

"I think we'd better withhold judgment on that until we get to know her a little better." A Reploid wearing blue armor that looked similar to mine walked over, and I couldn't help but smirk when I saw the amazed look in his green eyes.

"Hi." I held out my right hand, and X took it in a friendly handshake. "I'm Maria. It's nice to see that you're in one piece, Xavier."

Zero blinked at the name while X's eyes widened. The blue Reploid quickly recovered, though.

"It's just X around here," X corrected. He frowned slightly. "And I remember meeting you before. Joshua, too." He nodded to my cousin, who looked as equally surprised as Zero did.

I smiled and nodded as we released the handshake. "Yeah; I remember. I'd stopped in to make sure that Joshua was in working order after he'd run into some trouble, and the Doc let me know he was putting you together."

We'd probably end up spilling the beans about how the both of us used to be humans eventually, but for now, the Reploids didn't have to know about that.

"I'm surprised you managed to enter our base without a transerver," X added. "Zero mentioned a portal?"

I nodded. "Yeah; it's a skill of mine, but I can only use it to travel between certain areas. Considering that Zero didn't like the truth of the matter very much..." I sent the ponytailed Reploid a sidelong glance.

Zero snorted. "Like alternate dimensions _really_ exist."

Joshua and I exchanged looks at that, raising our eyebrows.

"Well, we can talk about that later," Joshua said. "You mentioned something about a strain of the virus you hadn't seen before _and_ that you were worried about Maria, despite the fact that you hadn't worried about her before."

X instantly gained a serious expression. "That's because this virus _isn't_ from Sigma."

Uh oh.

"Not from Sigma?" I repeated. "How's _that_ possible?"

"We're not entirely sure yet, but we do have a name for it." Signas looked grim. "The Limited virus."

 **Time Break**

After all the _other_ Hunters were dismissed, Signas led us up into his command center-y office area at the top of the base for a more private conversation between me, him, Joshua, X, Zero, and the Reploid who headed communications on the base.

I noticed that Axl wasn't in on the meeting and wondered if he hadn't joined up with us yet.

And then I noticed the extremely tall tower that didn't seem to have a top, rising above the skyline-view that Signas had from his office, and I wondered if the Reploid hadn't gotten out of the medbay after their run-in with Lumine yet.

"The Limited virus showed itself some time after the humans decided that they were going to put the Jakob Project on hold, thanks to Lumine and his attempts to wipe them out," Signas explained. He must've noticed me staring at the tower. "At first, the infected followed the same tactics that Sigma had used, making us wonder if he'd come back from the dead."

"Lumine had told us that Sigma was dead for good, though," Zero added. "So it couldn't have been him, unless his virus was just wrecking havoc without a real mind to guide it."

"Possible," Joshua consented, "but if the virus doesn't have anything to guide it, I doubt it would be anything other than a mere nuisance." Joshua looked over at me. "Especially considering what the virus could have been initially created from."

I nodded in agreement. "Yeah; there have been a few theories as to where the virus started from, but there's one that Joshua and I agree on. And all the theories _also_ agree that the virus had to have started from Wily somehow, and he stored it somewhere, only for it to be released sometime in the present day."

"Considering how much work that man put into trying to fight with Dr. Light, I don't think I'm all that surprised," X said.

The pink-armored, blond girl Reploid who was the Head of Communications on base frowned. "What makes you think that it started with Wily? That man is a century dead."

I recognized her voice as the one that had talked to me over the comm before I got here, and it took me a moment to remember her name: Alia.

"So is the Doc, and his tech is still affecting the world," I pointed out. "Dr. Wily was just as bright, even if he was insane." I gained a sour frown. "I'm just glad that I was able to see him get put behind bars for the last time."

"So the docs are dead. How's that supposed to help us deal with the virus that's bothering us _now_?" Zero folded his arms across his chest, practically glaring at Joshua and me. "Did Wily make _two_ viruses?"

I snorted. "Like he'd have had the time to. The _last_ one probably came around because he was trying to _reprogram_ me - that's our theory, anyway. I've been _vaccinated_ for the Sigma virus, and I don't plan on getting it again anytime soon, thanks."

That statement got me _really_ surprised looks from the other Reploids, while Joshua rolled his eyes at their reactions.

"They _clearly_ don't have all the data on you, Maria," my cousin commented. "You might as well just wait to drop your verbal bombshells until they get around to looking at our systems."

I shrugged in response.

"You can't be immune from a virus, _especially_ not when it comes to what Sigma's done with his." Alia frowned. "You can't be 'vaccinated' for something like this."

"My predicament was different," I replied. "The reason that I'm immune is because I was hit with the original intent behind the thing's creation." My face twisted into an expression of annoyance. "You're lucky _you_ weren't around when it happened, X - he might have gone for you instead, since you look so much like Rock."

X frowned. "And that means...?"

Joshua cleared his throat. "Maria?"

I knew where he was going with this. "You didn't ask me for permission the _last_ time. I don't see why you need to this time."

The confused looks I was getting made me feel a little guilty; I wondered if I should have said something about what was going to happen, but then Joshua took _all_ right I had to say anything on my own volition out of the equation.

"Protocol Alpha-Beta: Activate."

I winced as the program instantly took hold and my armor shifted to mimic Joshua's. _I don't think I'm ever going to get used to that, cousin._

 _-Neither will I, if you keep getting into my head like this-_

"What just happened?" X was looking at me with such an aghast expression that it _really_ made me wish we'd told him _before_ the demonstration.

- _Like that would have made any difference-_ Joshua then launched into an explanation of what had just happened. "That is Maria's 'vaccination.' A piece of the original programming was irremovable, and it's been turned into something else. Maria keeps the codes that control it, but if she feels like telling others, she'll let them know about it."

I felt his mental nudge, and I gave a nod. "Yeah. There's a reason I don't tell very many people about it, either - the Protocol, like Wily's initial attempt to take control of me, puts me under the command of whoever activates it."

"That explains the change in your armor's color," X noted. He frowned. "How bad _was_ the original?"

I looked over at Joshua, and he gave me a nod in reply.

"The original wiped my personality and left me an empty shell," I said flatly. "I don't have very many memories of _that_ time, and I _don't_ plan on trying to recover them."

If the other Reploids had been human, they probably would have paled a little at that.

X certainly looked like he _wanted_ to. "And you _let_ people activate this? _Why?"_

 _-Go ahead and speak your mind-_ Joshua mentally nudged me. - _You don't need to keep a lock on your mouth right now-_

"...sometimes, it's unavoidable," I said carefully. "Wily tried to get me again after Dr. Light rescued me. A trusted friend who was nearby activated the Protocol and kept me from falling under his control. Another time, a sentient virus tried to possess me and wipe my personality. The Protocol reacted and not only knocked the virus out of my system, but made it virtually harmless. As much as this thing is a curse, it's managed to keep me out of a few pretty sticky situations."

"Making a virus harmless?" Zero snorted. "We'd have heard something about that. How can we know you're not lying."

"Maria, if you're lying, set yourself on fire," Joshua said flatly.

I waited a few seconds, then smirked when the Protocol didn't start screaming at me to set off my fire powers. Zero didn't look all that impressed.

"It's not like she has anything here that _could_ set her on fire," Zero pointed out.

Joshua and I exchanged looks at that.

"Are you asking for a demonstration?" Joshua asked dryly. "Because Maria _is_ a fire element Reploid."

"Later," Signas said. "I would appreciate it if my office was _not_ turned into a warzone. The fact that Maria has spoken the truth so far makes me willing to trust that the two of you might be from another dimension, like you suggested before."

"So the reason we haven't heard from you is that you've been living in another plane of existence?" Alia frowned. "Then how did I manage to contact you?"

"Maria and I are built to be able to pick up signals like that," Joshua replied. "We've traveled to multiple other planes of existence - it would make sense that we would be able to contact people who we have talked to before in case something happens. Like when you contacted Maria and informed us about the virus."

Zero raised an eyebrow at that. "And how many worlds have you been to already?"

"This would be my third time out of the dimension we've taken to calling home," Joshua replied.

"And this is my eighth," I added. "But I've already been to this world twice before - when I first got the Protocol, and when I brought in Joshua for the Doc to look him over." I paused, then looked over at Joshua. "While we're talking about this, do you think it'd be a good idea to-"

"Probably." Joshua read the rest of my question with the mental connection. "Considering that it's going to come up eventually."

"What is?" Zero definitely didn't like the fact that there were things about us that he didn't know about. He wasn't going to like what he was going to hear.

"Maria _will_ set herself on fire if _either one_ of us lies," Joshua amended his earlier statement. "We used to be human."

No fire.

The looks that came over their faces made me _really_ want to laugh.

" _Used_ to be?" X's eyes were wide, disbelieving. "How?"

"Long story short, _he_ got stuck in a machine that turned him into a Reploid." I jabbed a thumb at Joshua, who nodded. "I was transferred into this body because my original body had taken on fatal injuries. It was the only thing that the Doc could do in order to save my life, since they were right in the middle of the last Wily War."

Again, no fire. This was definitely going to be fun to explain in detail later.

"So, you two are saying that it's possible to turn humans into..." X trailed off, looking somewhat uneasy.

"Yup. Some worlds attempt to do it pretty regularly; the Robotosizer that Joshua wandered into is one example." I gave a half-shrug. "The people who end up using that kind of technology, though, have usually been power-hungry jerks. If that kind of technology ends up showing up here, I wouldn't trust it at first."

"Noted," Zero responded shortly. "What caused you to sustain injuries?"

"One of Wily's Robot Masters decided to shoot me full of shrapnel."

X winced. Alia looked shocked, and Zero's eyes narrowed.

"Wily's robots didn't have the Three Laws?" Zero growled.

I shook my head. "Dr. Light had evacuated people from the area. I came _into_ the area with my portals without realizing that. Rock - the original MegaMan - found me and got me to the doc in time for him to do something to save my life."

"And your parents..." X trailed off.

"Are aware of the change, and have learned to accept it and work with it." Joshua nodded to me. "Maria's parents have traveled before, but their travels between dimensions stopped when they settled down and had a family. While they would have liked it if Maria had not put herself in harm's way, they understand the dangers that we are getting ourselves into."

I nodded. "Especially considering what they've been through already." I paused. "Which means we should probably get into the problem that's happening _here_ , before it gets any worse."

Joshua nodded in agreement, then said the deactivation code and gave me back my mental freedom. "Are humans still planning on colonizing the moon at some point?"

"Not for a few years, no," Signas replied. "Lumine and the other Mavericks that followed him caused the humans enough of a scare that they're starting to rethink their methods for creating Reploids and the blocks they've put in place to prevent infection. They haven't been able to find a definite cure or 'vaccination' that would prevent Reploids from going Maverick."

"The fact that Lumine said that Reploids could go Maverick at will is a little troublesome, too," Alia added. "There have been more small crimes committed by groups of Reploids and humans working together, which on top of the Limited virus has our Hunters spread thin."

Joshua raised an eyebrow at that. "If Reploids are built to act like humans, the fact that they can go rogue and work alongside humans like that probably means they're learning from criminals. How much time are Reploids given to understand the world's situation and the moral laws before they go into the work force?"

It took me a moment to put two and two together in the uncomfortable silence that followed, and the result _did_ make me facepalm.

"So we've got a bunch of Reploid kids running around in big, powerful bodies, then," I groused. "Is that what you're saying, Joshua?"

"Pretty much." Joshua sighed and shook his head. "It seems that some humans weren't thinking. Maybe they should have looked at the design of the capsule that X was in when they found him."

X blinked at that. "You mean the programs that I was running before I was awoken?"

"Exactly." I rubbed the back of my head. "Since you guys basically are super-powered humans compared to the rest of the populace, the Doc wanted to make sure you weren't going to be all that reckless with your power. I think I pretty much cemented the idea in his head when I suggested turning Dr. Wily into a pretzel for kidnapping Blues - your oldest brother."

That got me a number of disapproving glares - even from Zero, who was probably the more violent of the group when it came to going after Mavericks.

"Humans are known to give threats and not follow through on them when they're angered," Joshua said, shooting me a sour look. "Obviously, that is an example."

I got the feeling that the Maverick Hunters weren't thinking so highly of me...

"If you want to help, I want to see how good you actually _are_ ," Zero said finally. "Joshua, you sound like a guy who could work in R and D."

Joshua nodded.

"Okay. Maria - simulations. _Now."_

And with that, Zero grabbed my arm and dragged me out of Signas' office, causing me to yelp in surprise at the sudden force. I recovered a moment later and moved to run at an even pace with Zero.

"What kind of fighter are you, anyway?" Zero didn't look back at me.

"Mostly long-range," I admitted, remembering a talk I'd had some time back with Wildfire - a close friend of mine who used to live in my head. "I can do some close range fighting, though, and I'd like to be able to know more."

Zero grunted. "If you're anything like X, you should probably stick to long-range."

I snorted. "X isn't equipped with more than just his Buster. I'm a fire element, remember? You don't know the extent of what I can do yet!"

"I'll be the judge of that."

I smirked. Zero and the others didn't know anything about what I could do besides what I'd just told him and what he'd seen happen already - the Protocol and my World-Jumping-given ability to make portals between dimensions.

Given that, I wondered just how Zero was going to react when I was given the chance to show off.

 **Oooh, boy. :) Looks like Maria and Joshua are being accepted into the Maverick Hunter ranks!**

 **If any of you are wondering what it is that they might be referencing, Maria went to this world when Dr. Light was still alive! You can find out what happened in my story _Capcom Kingdom,_ and she also visited for a little while at the end of _Smash Worlds Tournament_ , not long after Joshua became a Reploid himself. ****_Capcom Kingdom_ is also where she picked up the Protocol, so if you want to know the backstory behind that, it's the best place to see what happened first-hand!**

 **I'll see you guys next week!**


	3. MegaMan X part 2

**Hi, guys! I'm back with the next chapter!**

 **Chapter 3 - MMX part 2: Testing, testing….**

It didn't take too long for Zero to drag Maria to the part of the base where the Maverick Hunters could run mock missions in order to test themselves and beat the scores of the other Hunters on the base. The walls and floor were definitely made of materials that could stand most types of weapons that Reploids had at their disposal, as well as whatever explosions the 'roids and humans in Research and Development might end up setting off by accident.

Finding an empty room wasn't the difficult part of the tests that Zero was planning on sending Maria through - he was Class S; he could have kicked Reploids _out_ of simulations if he really wanted to, but there was one that he and X had practically permanently reserved for their use.

Zero stopped at the room's entrance and looked at Maria, who didn't look the least bit exhausted after their run through the base; at least her systems had some room to be pushed. "We're going to start with something easy and work our way up from there. X and I both use this room; you can run through some of the simulations that we both use."

Maria nodded at that, then paused, considering something. "How do you think the simulation would handle a hoverboard?" She pointed at the folded-up device attached to her back.

"Hoverboard?" Zero frowned. "That doesn't look like-"

Maria promptly did a backflip, and the device on her back disconnected and unfolded into a red and orange hoverboard, which she landed on with practiced ease. "It makes it easier to carry it around; that's why it looks like it's a part of my armor."

Zero blinked, then frowned. "Where did you _get_ that?"

"A friend made it." Maria stepped off the hoverboard, letting it reconnect with her back. "Sometimes, I have to travel long distances, so it comes in handy."

"...right. Well, don't use it in there." Zero motioned with his head to the door. "I've got it set for an old Maverick boss that we destroyed some time ago - Chill Penguin. If you can use fire, then I like to see how you can handle an environment like that."

Maria blinked at that, then nodded. "Okay; sure."

Zero hit the control panel on the side, opening the door into the simulation room. "Get in there. Let's see how you do."

Maria gave Zero a thumbs-up, then walked into the room.

As soon as the door slammed shut behind her, the blank room shifted around Maria, and the temperature dropped rather abruptly as the floor became covered in ice and a Reploid that looked like a penguin of some kind appeared on the other side of the room.

Maria shifted her stance. "Okay, you—"

 _BWAA!_

Maria scrambled to the side as Chill Penguin came sliding at her at high speed, making a noise that sounded something like a deflated car horn.

Maria slid to a stop on the ice, frowning as Chill Penguin rose to his feet just as quickly and opened his mouth wide. Fire exploded across her shoulders instantly, and two Fire Spheres appeared in her hands. "Okay! Eat this!" She threw her attacks, then started running across the room as she threw more.

 _Paff! Paff! Paff!_

Maria skidded to a stop at the other wall as her opponent shot ice spheres from his beak, stopping three of the Fire Spheres before the others collided with his armor, leaving scorch marks on the metal. She clenched her right fist, and her entire hand vanished from view, revealing the business end of a cannon that instantly started charging energy. "Charged Buster Shot!"

 _BAM!_

Chill Penguin skidded back as a result of the blast, hitting the back wall while Maria disengaged her Buster and started running at the Reploid, her arms becoming covered in flames. As soon as she got close enough, Maria spun sharply, using the ice coating the floor for extra momentum.

 _Shing! SCRRRP!_

Maria turned and skate-ran away, nodding shortly in approval as Chill Penguin collapsed from the slash that Maria had cut into his middle. Then she took up a position on the opposite side of the room again, the two curved blades coming from her arms still covered over in fire.

"Okay! Eat this!" Maria threw both of her arms up in an uppercut motion, and the fire sprang off her blades and rammed into Chill Penguin, clearly catching her opponent by surprise and causing him to get thrown up into the air, where he stayed and started glowing.

 _BOOM!_

Maria quickly threw up a shield of fire to protect herself from the blast and the bits of shrapnel that were thrown in all directions when the penguin exploded. When the smoke cleared, she dropped the shield and let out a sigh of relief. "Whoo. That went quicker than I'd expected."

 _::Sounds like you know what you're doing::_

Maria looked up when she heard Zero's voice echo in the room — probably a built-in comm system for the simulations. "Well, I've fought in battles before; I'd think that you'd have expected that. Joshua and I spar sometimes, too."

 _::Good to know::_ It was hard to tell if Zero was impressed or acting like he usually did — disgruntled, and maybe a little annoyed. _::Something tells me you haven't shown off all your tricks::_

"If I did, I'd _probably_ end up destroying this room. Or melting it a little, at least." Maria looked around as the ice-covered room reverted back to the blank, steel gray that she'd seen when she'd entered. "I have White Flare techniques that can get to be pretty hot if the situation calls for it, and I'm not planning on using them for tests like this in confined spaces. Especially considering that 25 percent power has the added effect of an electrical stun."

For a moment, she didn't get a response. Then the door into the room opened, showing Zero standing with his arms folded across his chest and a frown on his face. "There's no way that a Reploid should be able to have the kind of power you're describing, especially one that was made before we were able to have this kind of technology."

Maria considered telling Zero that she had her fire power _before_ she had been turned into a Reploid, but then decided against it. "I'm not entirely sure where I got my fire powers from, to be honest. Dr. Light wasn't expecting them." Which was the truth — Rock had only gotten to where Maria had been attacked after he'd seen her fiery light show, and Dr. Light hadn't thought that Maria could control fire until she'd shown off.

"I'd doubt that. If he _made_ your new body, he should be able to know what powers you would have had." Zero stepped back out of the doorway and motioned for Maria to come out. "At least I know you can handle yourself in a fight."

"So, what now?" Maria slipped out of the simulations room, wondering why it was that Zero hadn't said anything else about her battle tactics.

"Now the docs around here get to have a look at your head."

Maria stopped following Zero down the hallway. Her eyes widened. "What?"

Zero paused, then turned and looked back at Maria. "You didn't think that we were going to let you get away without seeing if you're all right in the head, did you? They're going to have to have a look up there if you're going to be declared fit for duty."

Maria shook her head. "I get that you want to make sure that I'm working all right before I go out and knock Mavericks into next week, but I'm…not going to let people I don't know very well into my head. Dr. Wily messed with me, a virus has tried to delete my personality, and I've met someone like me who had been taken apart and put back together by a mad scientist who liked to experiment with people who were aware of what he was doing. I don't want to let strangers do things to me when I don't know for sure that their intentions are sincere."

"You should have gotten over _that_ by now, if you're over a century old."

Maria frowned. "Time passes differently between worlds and dimensions. What's been a hundred years for you has only been almost three years for me. My next birthday, I'm turning nineteen."

Zero raised an eyebrow at that; it seemed he hadn't been expecting to hear that from the Reploid who had been made before X. "So it's only been three years; big deal. Wily's dead, and there's no way that anybody like him's going to be going through your head anytime soon."

Maria hummed nervously in response. "Joshua and I handle our own maintenance."

Zero snorted. "We'll be the judge of that." He walked over and grabbed Maria by the arm again and started dragging her down the hallway.

Maria wanted to resist — and she did a little, at first — but she didn't want to anger Zero, either, so she eventually settled for letting him drag her towards their destination. However, that didn't mean that she was resigned to her fate; she was planning on mentally kicking and screaming if she had to and didn't like the 'docs' that Zero had mentioned beforehand.

"…look, I kinda get where you're coming from."

Maria blinked, then cocked her head to one side and looked at Zero curiously, frowning. "Hmm?"

"I don't exactly like check-ups, either. The docs used to have to hunt me down when I came back from a mission. It wasn't until after we had to deal with a crashing colony and a massive outbreak of the Sigma virus that I finally decided to give in."

Maria blinked at that, then remembered the events that Zero was talking about. "Oh, yeah…I remember hearing about that."

"Hearing about it?" Zero looked back. "Don't you live on some other world?"

"That doesn't mean that I don't get information about what happens on other worlds. How it _gets_ to our world, though, is pretty unusual."

"Try me."

"I learned about the events of the Colony Incident through a video game."

Zero frowned. "Seriously? You people played a _video game_ of that?"

"We've got multiple video games with your adventures." Maria gained a sheepish expression. "We've got eight total for you and X, and ten for X's brother, the original MegaMan."

There was no way that Maria was going to say anything about the _other_ games that they could play that involved MegaMan.

"You can't be serious…"

Maria shrugged. "Humans like being able to play as the heroes. There are many people back at home that see you and X as heroes they can look up to."

Zero frowned at that, then looked away from Maria. "I'm not a hero."

Maria frowned. "I'm sure there are a lot of people back home who would beg to differ."

"Let them beg all they like. It doesn't change anything." Zero stopped in front of an open doorway, still holding onto Maria's arm. "Looks like that cousin of yours got here first."

Maria slipped her arm out of Zero's grip and looked into the room that they were about to enter. Upon seeing Joshua talking with a tall, heavy-set Reploid wearing red and white armor, she cautiously stepped inside as she did her best to ignore the equipment and the other Reploids that were in the room that were using them.

"…have to have a look at the both of you using simulations in order to ensure that you aren't going to succumb to the virus," the heavy-set Reploid was saying.

"I can understand that, but my cousin will be reluctant to follow through," Joshua replied as Maria reached them.

"You've got that right." Maria folded her arms across her chest. "I've had my head messed with more than I would like."

The Reploid looked down at her with deep blue eyes — most Reploids seemed to have blue or green eyes, which made Maria wonder if people had tried other eye colors in the past and decided it didn't look quite right. "If your head has been 'messed with,' it would be better if we made sure that you were functioning properly."

"I've been able to 'function properly' ever since I was transformed into this. I think I'm fine."

"Maria." Joshua fixed his cousin with a slight frown. "All they are going to do is make an inert copy of your programming and run it through a number of simulations. They won't make it an aware artificial intelligence, so there won't be two of you running around. We were just talking about the procedure when you arrived."

Maria frowned. "Are you sure that's going to be everything…?"

"For your mental prowess, yes," the heavy-set Reploid replied. "We were planning on starting with Joshua first, if you are that uncomfortable with the idea of the process."

Maria considered that for a moment, then gave a nod. "Okay…."

Joshua gave a nod. "I'm ready."

"Good."

Maria stayed back, watching cautiously as Joshua was led over to a hollow glass cylinder that was connected to what looked like one of those large, clunky old computers that had been made long before the modern laptop. Maria figured this one had to be like that because of all the processing power it took to ensure that a Reploid was working properly.

Especially since Reploids were built to be able to think and act as human as possible.

The glass cylinder sealed shut around Joshua, and the computer started up with a soft hum that made Maria stiffen up a little. Zero glanced over at her, but when Maria didn't bolt, he looked back at Joshua as the humming got slightly louder before fading.

The cylinder pulled upward, and Joshua stepped out as the medical Reploid started typing quickly on the large computer's keyboard.

"That tickled a little, but not much." Joshua moved to stand next to Maria. "I think you'll be all right."

Maria hummed somewhat nervously in response, biting her lower lip as she watched the medical Reploid do his work. "Maybe."

The medical Reploid paused, then looked over at Joshua. "I haven't seen anything like this before. Your programming-"

"Is a human mind turned into a programmer's language," Joshua finished. "That is essentially what it is."

"Correct." The Reploid nodded. "When X sent ahead the report that said the two of you had been human, I hadn't been expecting...this." He motioned to the computer. "This is going to take some time to be able to send through simulated situations; I doubt that I would be able to test you with my current algorithms."

Zero looked impressed. "I didn't think you'd get stumped, Doc."

"He might not get stumped by Maria." Joshua nodded to the other Reploid who had yet to be tested.

The medical Reploid - Doc, Maria supposed his name was - looked at Maria with a curious expression. "Perhaps, seeing as she wasn't directly transformed like you were."

Maria looked hesitant at the idea, but she saw the looks that Zero and Joshua were both fixing her with. After a moment, she gave a nod. "All right, then." She walked over to where Joshua had been standing a moment before, closing her eyes tightly as the glass cylinder clamped down.

A moment later, she heard the soft hum of the computer, and she sensed _something_ trying to slip into her head. Her entire body stiffened, and the Protocol started buzzing as she felt something in her head _divide_ and leave.

The feeling disappeared as quickly as the hum of the computer, and Maria gave a shudder, then opened her eyes as she heard the cylinder open up.

"It didn't _just_ tickle," Maria said pointedly as she moved quickly away from the machine. "The Protocol was pretty much ready to jump to action the minute that something started to go wrong."

"Really?" Joshua raised an eyebrow. "I didn't think that it would consider that to be something potentially dangerous."

"Well, if there were two of me running around and we both thought we were the real me, that would probably cause a lot of damage around here." Maria frowned. "I'd rather _not_ have that happen _."_

"You and me both," Zero muttered.

"I doubt that will occur." Doc turned away from the computer and fixed his gaze on Maria. "Your code is just as complex as your cousin's, if not more so. The inclusion of the 'Protocol,' as you call it, clearly has provided you with extra protection. The simulated attack of a Maverick Virus was pushed off in seconds."

"I told you I'd been vaccinated." Maria folded her arms across her chest.

"Your cousin seems to have something similar, but it only protects his personality; it doesn't drive out the invading virus." Doc eyed Joshua. "It's almost as though he was designed in such a way that he could be cured."

"It's the best that I could do, considering the circumstances under which I had Jolt upgrade my mental processes," Joshua admitted. "I thought that there might be a chance that someone would try to hack one of us, so I set up a security system for myself. It wasn't that difficult."

"Jolt?" Doc frowned.

"My lab partner. He's busy with his own projects at the moment, so I didn't think that he should be bothered with what Maria and I came here to assist you with."

"And he's what to you?" Zero looked over at Maria. "Another cousin?"

Maria snorted. "Hardly. He's a friend, sure, but I'm not as close to him as I am with my friends and family. I'm closer to Jolt's friend, Wildfire."

Zero frowned. "Sounds like you two get along _well_."

Maria gained a sheepish grin.

"As I now have copies of your data, and have confirmation that you two most likely aren't going to be transformed into Mavericks without a chance to have the virus reversed, it might be wise if you spoke with X or Signas in order to see the true state of the world at the moment." Doc looked over the three of them with a stern gaze. "If what Joshua has told me is true, and you are aware of what occurred on the moon during the Jakob incident without actually being here, then you will most likely want to know of Axl's whereabouts as well, correct?"

"Yeah, I was wondering about that." Maria looked over at Zero, frowning when she saw the odd look that was on his face. "What happened to him after the Jakob Project? I remember that Lumine broke the crystal that was set into his helmet, but-"

"That is where all the trouble started," Zero cut Maria off. "Lumine was connected to the Limited virus somehow, and he infected Axl with it."

Maria's eyebrows shot up. "Seriously?"

"The Limited virus got Axl before the virus even started?" Joshua frowned. "How long ago was that?"

"Two months ago."

Maria frowned. "Okay...and he's where?"

Zero shook his head. "We haven't been able to find him. We've been able to find the trail that the virus has left in his wake, but he hasn't shown himself."

"But we do have a trail to follow," Joshua pointed out. "How much trouble has been caused by this new virus?"

"Plenty."

Maria and Joshua exchanged looks at that.

"Are they doing what normal Mavericks would do?" Joshua raised an eyebrow. "Eight bases and eight bosses?"

Zero gave a curt nod. "We know of their locations, but Hunters haven't been sent in yet. The humans want to try on their own, first."

"Have they done that before?" Maria frowned. "I wouldn't think that they'd want to, all things considered."

"So far, they've been able to handle themselves. I don't think they want to lose any more of us to any sort of virus."

Joshua frowned and folded his arms across his chest. "The Hunters are a last resort? That's ridiculous - you were gathered together to take on threats like this."

"I'd like to see you try and talk some sense into them." Zero fixed Joshua with a dark look. "Since you happen to be a Reploid, too."

Joshua's frown deepened. "That would stop them from listening to any advice we would give them, considering how Reploids are mass-produced here."

"You have _no idea."_

Maria snorted. "Wily saw me as nothing but a drone, and there are other villains in other dimensions who would willing turn organic creatures into mindless weapons. All things considered, I think we've got at least a little bit of one."

"I doubt it." Zero turned and started to walk out of the room. "Come on. Signas should have set up a place for you two to recharge by now. You're going to need that energy."

Maria and Joshua exchanged looks before following after him.

 **Time Break - Maria's POV**

It turned out that the "place" Zero mentioned happened to be a private room with a couple pods in it - I guessed that they were supposed to be some kind of charging station that Reploids could plug into. I guess asking for meals to help keep my energy up was pretty much out of the question.

"Well, that was interesting." Joshua looked around the sparse room before he walked over to one of the pods. "All things considered, we're probably going to be in here for a while, so we should probably recharge while we can."

I frowned. "Yeah...you ever used one of these things before? Because I can recharge from human food just as well."

Joshua fixed me with a deadpan look. "Do you really think that I'm as familiar with these as X and Zero are? I have an Energon mine attached to my lab."

"Oh. Yeah, that's right." I ducked my head a little.

"In any case, I can only guess that we'll be able to recharge simply by lying in these." Joshua nodded to them. "Considering that we came in order to help, I doubt that Zero and X are going to leave us in here forever."

"And if they were planning to, I can open a portal to get us back home." I nodded - mostly to myself as the backup plan settled into the back of my mind. "Until then, we're probably going to have to wait it out, right?"

"Exactly." Joshua lay down in one of the open pods. "We may as well take the chance to make sure that we are fully energized, just in case they do need us."

"Sounds good to me." I looked over at the other pod. "Well, I hope I don't get any adverse reactions to sleeping in this thing..."

I climbed in and shut my eyes tightly as the pod closed.

 **Things are going to get very interesting come next chapter...I'll see you all next week!**


	4. MegaMan X part 3

**Hi, guys! I'm back with the next chapter!**

 **Shadescribe - The Hunters were indeed lucky that the Protocol didn't deem them to be a threat to Maria's mental well-being - things could have turned out rather badly if it did... *snickers* I think that they'd be quite disbelieving of the fact that mechanical aliens exist. X would probably be pretty accepting of them after the initial shock wears off, though.**

 **OPFan37 - :) I'm glad you like what I've done with developing Maria's fiery abilities! Her fire actually has older origins than that, though - older than even she knows. I'll get around to explaining where they come from eventually, though... Yeah, Maria's not happy about the Protocol, either - mind control is something that sets her anger off and terrifies her in equal measures, so she makes sure that the Protocol doesn't get used very often. Something's going to happen to it in the future that's going to change how it works, though - not in this story specifically, unfortunately. *raises eyebrow* A project, you say? I am intrigued.**

 **Anyway, here's the next chapter!**

 **Chapter 4 - MMX part 3: First Limited Base**

 _Bam! Bam! Bam!_

Maria's eyes snapped open a mere second before the pod popped open. "Joshua? What's going on?"

Joshua stepped back from the pod as Maria sat up and slipped out. "Axl just sent the base a message."

"He _what_? Is he still infected? Or...?"

"He's still infected." Joshua gave a grim nod. "But X and Zero both believe that there is something else going on. Axl's challenged them to find where the 'hive mind' is located before the virus overtakes the Hunters."

"Hive mind...?" Maria frowned. "Do viruses usually _have_ a hive mind? I didn't hear about anything remotely like that back at home. Unless you count Brainiac, but he's not hanging around here in this universe."

"Exactly. There must be more to the Limited virus than what the humans and Reploids initially thought." Joshua motioned for Maria to follow him out of the room. "The Hunters have been given the green light to go after Axl and the infected Reploids, as well - they're going to start the debriefing soon."

Maria's eyebrows shot up. "Okay, then. Do you think they're going to let us help?"

"We'll have to see what Signas has to say about it. He is X's and Zero's commanding officer."

It didn't take Joshua too long to lead Maria through the corridors to a room that looked like it was a communication hub of some kind - Alia and a number of other Reploids were sitting at different computer terminals, while Signas, X, and Zero were looking over a computer monitor that looked like a large map.

X looked up as Maria and Joshua reached them. "Are you two fully recharged?"

Maria nodded. "Yeah. What's going on?"

"Axl confirmed the locations of the eight Limited bases that we knew about already." Zero nodded to the map. "He said that some kind of 'hive mind' was in one of them, and we have to find it if we want all this chaos to stop." He frowned. "Considering that he didn't look or sound like his usual self, it's probably a trap."

"A trap that involves in us joining him as infected?" Joshua asked dryly.

"That seems to be the case." X looked at Maria. "We know that you two can at least stand against the virus that Sigma spread. That might be enough in order to defeat this 'Limited' virus, but we can't be entirely sure."

"Well, there's only one way to find out." Maria cracked her knuckles, smirking.

"I wouldn't do as well out there as Maria would." Joshua nodded to his cousin, who glanced over at him with an expression of surprise. "I'd rather work in your R and D department and ensure that you have powerful weapons at your disposal."

Maria snorted. "With everything that you're carrying around in your subspace? I think you'll do fine, considering what happened on that Reverse Cybertron."

"Cybertron?" Signas frowned.

Joshua waved off the question. "While I may have technology that is capable of causing massive damage, I'd rather be in a lab inventing rather than out in the field. That time was an exception, because we clearly needed all the help we could get."

Maria frowned at that. "Well, if that's how you feel about it, I guess I'm not gonna change your mind anytime soon." Her frown deepened for a moment, then she shook her head. "So, what kinds of places are we looking at?"

"Factories." Zero nodded to the map. "Mostly mechaniloids and drones built for various extreme weather conditions."

"Mostly?" Joshua gave the map a closer look. "There's a mining operation here, too…and two _Reploid_ factories?" He looked back at Maria. "The Sigma virus didn't have hubs in Reploid manufacturers previously. The Limited virus is definitely attempting something different."

"Want to bet the hive mind is in one of those factories?" Maria suggested. "It would be a pretty easy way to spread out its network, right?"

"That's what we've taken into consideration when planning our first targeted locations," Signas replied. "X and Zero will investigate the Reploid factories. Maria, you and one of our more promising Hunters will investigate the mechaniloid factory for drones needed in extreme heat environments. I'm sure you'll be able to handle yourself there well enough."

Maria nodded, smirking at the thought of going into an extreme heat zone and using her powers. "Oh, definitely. Who am I going with?"

Signas turned. "Rox!"

A lanky male Reploid in light and dark-brown armor ran up to them; Maria blinked owlishly as he came to a stop in front of Signas, and Joshua's eyebrows shot up as he laid his eyes on the Reploid.

"Yes, sir?" Rox stood at attention, his hands behind his back.

"You and Maria will go to the mechaniloid factory that doubles as a geothermal plant." Signas set his gaze on Maria. "While you are older and do seem to have experience in battle, I expect you to listen to Rox, as you are technically a civilian that has enlisted."

Maria frowned at that, but when Signas' gaze intensified, she gave a quick nod. "Yeah, sure."

"This is Hunter X's sister?" Rox looked at Maria with a raised eyebrow. "I had expected someone who looked a little more mature, at least."

Maria shrugged. "The original MegaMan looked like a ten-year-old. I don't see the harm in me looking like a teenager."

Rox frowned. "Was he really designed to look like that?"

"Well, yeah. He originally designed him to be something of a surrogate son and lab assistant, but then Wily decided to ruin everything. Rock – MegaMan – volunteered to be upgraded so that he could take on Wily, and the rest is history."

Joshua cleared his throat. "As interesting as talking about this would be, you do have somewhere that you need to be."

Rox nodded in agreement. "Yes. Come on, then." He motioned for Maria to follow him, and she fell into step a little bit behind him as they left the large room and entered a smaller room that had three glowing platforms lined up.

"Transervers?" Maria guessed as Rox walked up to the center platform.

"Yes." Rox looked back at her. "Why?"

"Well, we don't have those back in the dimension I come from, so I haven't been able to see one in person before." Maria gave a half-shrug. "Technology hasn't developed that far yet."

Rox blinked blankly at that. "I find that hard to believe, if you are capable of traveling between dimensions."

"That's something different. It's more like a magic than a technology."

"Even harder to believe."

Maria sighed irritably. "Well, that's the truth, and I'm sticking to it."

The transerver Rox was standing in front of flickered green and started humming, getting the two's attention.

"Come on." Rox stepped onto the platform and moved to the center, then disappeared in a flash of light. Maria paused for a moment, then followed after him.

 **Maria's POV**

Being teleported by a transerver didn't feel all that much different from a warp panel or being Teleported by any Pokémon that I could think of off the top of my head.

Except for, well, the fact that I was being turned into a beam of light and bounced off a satellite in orbit before _landing_ in front of a building in the course of less than a millisecond. I'm lucky that I managed to find my balance so quickly.

Rox looked at me with an odd expression as I landed next to him and looked around at our surroundings: red-black rock, smoke and ash filling the air, and a large, metal building in front of us that clearly seemed to have been made to withstand the weather and heat that was around.

I raised an eyebrow at him. "What?"

"You said that you hadn't used a Transerver. You should have stumbled a little as a result rematerializing."

"And I haven't. That doesn't mean that other worlds don't have technology _like_ it." I started for the building in front of us. "Well? We have to take care of this place, right?"

Rox quickly moved ahead of me as his left hand disappeared into his arm, only to be replaced with what looked like the business end of an axe. "You're following my lead, not the other way around." He sounded irritated.

I gave a nod, then followed after him as he started for the door of the building in front of us, staying a little bit behind him so that he'd have room to swing his axe around without worrying about lopping my head off. "What's the plan, then?"

Rox reached the door and raised his left arm, paused, then brought his arm down.

 _Shhhrrrrnk!_

I winced and pulled back a little as the axe tore its way through the metal, effectively cleaving the door in two.

Rox retracted his axe and grabbed at either side of the jagged slice he'd left. "We don't have much time, and we have a lot of ground to cover. You do have experience with environments like this, right?"

I nodded. "Yeah; I've been around a few volcanoes in my lifetime; I can handle this one." Actually, the heat wasn't bothering me one bit. I figured it had something to do with my fire powers and put the thought at the back of my mind.

"Good." Rox started pushing against the jagged edges of the door he'd shredded, causing it to shriek in protest.

"Why are you asking anyway?" I started moving forward, looking the door over and wondering whether or not I should give Rox a hand.

"I wanted to be sure that your core wouldn't overheat."

 _Screeech!_

I flinched as the metal groaned and gave way, letting Rox make a big enough opening in the door for us to be able to slip through. "Overheat? No way that's gonna happen anytime soon. My fire powers can get to be extremely hot on their own. If I can handle what I can dish out, this volcano shouldn't be a problem."

Rox fixed me with an annoyed expression, then stepped through the opening in the door. I followed after him, and was instantly hit by what felt like a _wall_ of heat that was even warmer than the outside had been. The feeling was gone in a moment, though.

Mostly because my attention had gone from the heat to the collection of what looked like large lizard 'bots with frills around their necks standing on their hind legs in front of us.

"Get down!" Rox slammed his right hand into my back and sent me crashing to the ground as the bots opened their mouths.

The flamethrowers that followed caught me a little by surprise, but then I simply grinned and raised my right hand. "Flash Fire!"

I saw Rox's eyes widen as all the fire traveled down my arm and suddenly gave me a power boost, and he pulled back from me as I activated my Buster and promptly fired a Charged Shot without having to gather so much as a scrap of energy from my own reserves.

 _BOOM!_

As parts rained down from where the lizards had been blasted to pieces, I casually rose to my feet and looked over at Rox, who was staring at me with a wide-eyed expression. "What? I know you guys don't know anything about what I can do, but there have to be _some_ who don't take damage from their own element."

"Not in the way that you just demonstrated!" Rox scrambled to his feet. "What was Dr. Light _thinking_ when he gave you that much power?"

"He knew I already had a level head; I _was_ human before I became a Reploid." I waved off the look Rox was giving me.

Rox's eyes only widened. "You…you were _human?_ " His eyes narrowed. "Impossible."

I shrugged. "It's the truth. So, how are we going to move around in here? I think it's pretty obvious that the virus already knows we're here."

Rox stared at me for a moment, then quickly recovered his composure. "We are going to have to split up. Because of how I am built, I can't adapt to the heat as well as you have, which means that you should be able to venture deeper into the base than I am able to."

"Deeper?" My eyebrows shot up. "That wouldn't happen to be where the boss of this place is, would it?"

"In most cases, yes."

"And you don't have a problem with me possibly running into him. Even though I'm not a Maverick Hunter – technically."

"The fact that you can absorb fire makes me think that you should be able to handle whatever it is that might come after you," Rox replied in a deadpan tone. "Why? Are you worried about what you will run into?"

I shook my head. "No, no – it's not that. It's just…" I paused. "Well, I guess it's mostly because I'm pretty much a stranger to this world and I'm not officially part of your numbers. I don't know if X or Zero would be willing to let me handle a boss on my own."

"Well, I'm not either one of them." Rox nodded to the rest of the building ahead of us, which probably would have looked like a warehouse-factory kind of place except that there were renovations all over the place that were clearly meant to hinder and harm. "You go deeper in. I'm going to investigate around this floor and see if there is any hint at what it is that this Limited virus is causing the infected to really do."

I nodded. "Gotcha."

"Make sure to watch your back. Immune to virus infections or not, I don't want to report back and say that you've managed to get yourself severely damaged."

I snorted. "I can handle myself. You should be making sure that _you_ don't overheat!" Before he even so much as had a chance to respond, I ran forward and slipped through an opening in what looked like a barricade of rusted metal that had been blocking most of our view of what was going on inside the building.

As soon as I got to the other side, though, I stopped short.

"Yeesh, this place is a giant death trap!"

Now that I was on the other side of the wall, it was pretty clear that this place used to be a factory of some kind – there were the remains of an assembly line, but that had been torn to pieces. Now, there were spike traps scattered all over the place, as well as even more of those fire lizards.

I frowned down at the spike-filled pit that was right in front of where I was standing. "Sheesh, these places…what makes them add on these death traps, anyway?"

A moment later I was on my hover board and flying across the spike traps with ease, taking the flamethrower blasts from the fire lizard-bots and blasting Charged Shots back at them. They looked like they were the only "mechaniloids" that were in the building so far, which was good for me since it meant I got a lot of excess energy to burn through or reserve for later.

Which, considering that I didn't know who the boss of this place was….

I put the thought of the Maverick – different virus or not, they were 'roids who were going rogue – out of my head so that I could concentrate on what was right in front of me at the moment, which happened to be a pretty wide stairwell leading down, deeper into the factory.

I rolled my shoulders, then zipped down the stairs on my hover board and reached the first of what I figured to be many basement floors.

It was at this point that the building started to look a _lot_ more like the levels that my brother Matthew had played through. Except from the first person.

Working my way through the maze wasn't anything like the game, either. For one, I knew that I wasn't going to be getting any second chances at this. At all. For another thing, I wasn't Xavier, Zero, _or_ Axl.

I started moving forward again, staying on my hover board and raising and lowering over the different platforms that were scattered around the room – no doubt meant to hinder the progress of a normal Reploid and act like a bunch of barricades.

I came up and over the first wall and almost instantly got knocked back by a wall of fire.

"Flash Fire!" I sucked in the flames and aimed my Buster at the Maverick in question – a yellow dragon of some kind.

 _BOOM._

I flew over the explosion of smoke and flames that quickly started to melt the mechanical beastie's remains and started doing the same to the rest of its fellows.

Still, I had to be cautious. There were spikes as big around as my waist sticking up from the tops of some of the barricades, and there were saw blades being swung from the ceiling by thick, steel chains.

Those were fun to avoid. Not.

At the other end of this room, there was yet another set of stairs – and these ones looked like they were warping a little, probably from the heat. This place _had_ been built right next to a volcano to harness its heat – some parts of the building probably weren't quite as safe as they had been when the place had been built.

Although, they probably built this place with the heat in mind, so why would the metal start warping _now?_

I ended up getting my answer when I flew down the stairs and reached the second basement floor, because the layout of the factory-turned-base changed to something that felt a bit more…fantasy-ish.

I came to a stop a short distance from the base of the stairs, looking down at the large square pool of melted _gold_ that took up most of the room. "Oh, boy. What kind of monster is going to be hiding in here?" I started to move around the pool, not stepping off my hover board. "The Maverick's gotta be hiding in the gold somewhere…."

 _Blurp._

I stopped short when the gold at the far end of the pool started to bubble up, then slid off what looked like bright yellow scales as a large head rose up. A pair of scarlet eyes opened and looked at me with a lazy expression, and the _dragon_ opened its mouth and yawned.

"Maverick Hunters don't get down here this quickly, on average," the dragon said, turning his head this way and that – probably trying to get a better look at me. "Especially the new ones."

I folded my arms across my chest. "What makes you think that I'm new to this?"

"Master Axl would have warned us of how dangerous you were."

My eyes narrowed. "He's not here."

"No." The dragon's head shifted slightly. "Were you expecting him to be? His systems are not built to handle this heat, even with the upgrades the Limited has given him. The upgrades you could offer would be most useful. Why don't you join us? Become one with the Limited?"

I gritted my teeth, shifting my stance a little on my hover board as I tried to force down my nervousness at the idea. "I don't think so! I happen to like to be able to think for myself, thank you very much!" I aimed my Buster at the dragon head and fired off a Charged Shot…which only spilled over the golden armor without the dragon so much as flinching.

"You have signed your death warrant, then." The dragon's head reared up. "I am Golden Drake, but you will only know me as your death."

The dragon promptly fired a stream of golden-red flames. I didn't even try to dodge.

"Flash Fire!"

The fire was gone in seconds, causing Drake to let out an odd squawking noise that sounded like screeching metal.

"What?! Impossible!"

"Definitely sounds like you're wide awake now!" I grinned. "Charged Sun Shot!"

The electrically charged energy sphere hit Drake right between the eyes, causing him to flinch back and shake his head as sparks flew from his scales.

Drake glared at me, his scarlet eyes flashing. "There is no data pointing to the existence of someone such as yourself. Are you a secret weapon they only thought of releasing now? How are you unharmed by my fire?"

I stuck my tongue out in response. "Like you deserve to know!" I fired off another Stun Shot, making Drake actually freeze up a bit because of the electricity. "Who I am and what I can do are my business, and not anyone else's! So there!"

A pained growl slipped out between Drake's clenched fangs. "Do not think that you will defeat me so easily. This is only a hindrance – the Limited assured me that I have no weaknesses!"

I snorted at that. "Oh, really?"

"Ye—"

I fired a Stun Shot right as he started talking.

 _ZAP!_

"Let's see how weak you are on the _inside._ " Fire covered my arms, quickly turning a bright white-red as I molded it into a sphere and threw it at Drake's open maw. "Fire Spark!"

Despite Drake's struggling to close his mouth, I still managed to get the attack in before his jaws slammed shut. A few seconds later, smoke started to leak out as his scarlet eyes flickered wildly.

"Ha! Knew it!" I fist-pumped with my non-Buster arm, grinning as the smoke started to increase and sparks started coming up from under the dragon-bot's armor somewhere. "You didn't insulate your insides!"

I don't know what Drake was thinking right then – if he was thinking at all – but those scarlet eyes of his looked absolutely _murderous._ He started to lunge forward towards my end of the room, but sparks kept flying from his armor as he started and stopped abruptly.

And then the high-pitched whining started, and even _more_ smoke started pouring out of the mechanical dragon head.

 _"Self-destruct in—"_

I was heading back up to the upper floors before I could even hear the countdown start.

Blasting back through the base wasn't so much of a problem for me when there weren't any lizards trying to shoot me out of the air with flamethrowers. The swinging saw blades were still a slight problem, though, but not enough to make me stop completely.

I managed to get up to the first floor mere moments before an explosion from below shook the building.

 _BOOM!_

I ducked down, gripping my hoverboard on either side as the entire building shook around me. "Whoa! I guess that dragon guy was a little big bigger than I'd thought he was." I blasted forward again as the building settled, reaching the entrance in seconds.

Rox stumbled out of the hallway that he'd disappeared down when we had split up. "What did you do?! The entire building's coming apart!"

"I beat the Maverick and set off his self-destruct," I replied quickly. "If the building's coming apart, then he's probably connected to the building's systems somehow."

Rox stared at me. "He was—" He let out a groan. "We can't stay here – we have to get out of here now."

I blinked blankly at the statement.

"A self-destruct of this magnitude is _going_ to set off an eruption."

My eyes widened sharply. "Uh oh."

Rox motioned for me to follow him. "Let's get out of here before we're trapped under the rubble and molten rock."

"Sounds good to me!"

The two of us scrambled out as another explosion shook the building, but it stood firm as we scrambled out through the opening that Rox had forced in the door.

"Beam us back!" Rox yelled.

I got caught up in the transerver right when I was in the middle of running.

 _Vwoop!_

"Whoa!" I stumbled forward off the transerver and faceplanted against the ground. I heard a short bark of laughter moments later, and I scrambled to my feet instantly.

"You're really not used to how these things work, are you?" Zero shot me a grin that I guess was _supposed_ to be teasing, but I couldn't help but see it as a sneer.

"I'd like to see you recover your balance after being teleported while running." I checked my armor over for dents, then noticed that the metal under my feet seemed to be warping a little. "Hang on a sec." I closed my left eye and focused on lowering my body's temperature – there's no way that would have been at all good for the base if I kept walking around like I was a volcano.

"You don't have to do that, you know."

I frowned at Zero as my temperature dropped back down to normal levels, then opened my left eye again. "Do what?"

"Close your eye like that." He nodded to me. "There's no real physical need for you to do that."

I blinked at that, then shrugged. "Well, I developed the habit not too long after I was turned into a Reploid, and I'm not about to stop doing it. It feels right."

Zero raised an eyebrow. "Is this a human thing?"

I frowned at that. "No, it's just…well, the whole data streaming across my vision thing kinda gives me a headache sometimes. Shutting an eye and letting the data shift over _there_ helps."

Zero inclined his head. "Hmm." He turned and started out of the room. "Come on."

I followed Zero out of the room, glancing back at the transervers as Rox wordlessly fell into step behind us before looking back at Zero. "You guys took care of your missions, then?"

"I did." Zero's answer was curt. "I noticed you don't have any scratches on your armor."

"There were a lot of fire-spewing lizards, so if I did take any damage, then the fire I absorbed reversed it." I shrugged. "I can heal pretty quickly that way."

Zero glanced back at me as we re-entered the communication hub-like room. "Reploids shouldn't be able to do that."

"I'm not normal; I thought that you guys already knew that."

"The fact that you're not normal, yes; the fact that you can _absorb_ fire, no."

"Maria can do what?" Signas looked at us with an interested expression as we came to a stop in front of him.

"Absorb fire." I shrugged. "Really gave the infected robot dragon in the factory a shock when I sucked in his flamethrower."

Signas blinked at that. "Reploids don't have the capability to absorb elements, merely resist damage against them."

"It's something I picked up when I was human; I guess it carried over." I shrugged, then looked around. "So, where are X and Joshua?"

The expressions on Zero's and Signas' faces made me frown. "What is it?"

Zero's eyes narrowed. "X has gone missing."

 **Uh oh. That definitely doesn't sound good.**

 **I'll see you guys next week, then!**


	5. MegaMan X part 4

**Hi, guys! I'm back with the next chapter!**

 **Shadescribe - Haha! Yeah, they definitely did! I can still picture the look on Rox's face when he saw Maria absorb that** **blast of flames! XD**

 **SabaraOne - Really? Interesting... Fun Fact: the Limited is an actual virus that's kinda-sorta a part of the MegaMan X canon. It never showed up in the games, though - go look for the Limited Virus on the Mega Man Knowledge Base Wiki, and you'll see what I mean. ;)**

 **Anyway, here's the chapter!**

 **Chapter 5 – MMX part 4**

 _Zero's eyes narrowed. "X has gone missing."_

Maria looked over at Zero sharply as she felt a chill run down her spine. "What? _Missing?_ Since when? What happened?"

"Since the Reploid factory he had been in self-destructed." Joshua moved over, away from the map of the Limited bases – which now had bright red X's covering three of the locations. "We were able to spot his signature leaving the factory, but it disappeared shortly after – almost as though he had been teleported out before the transervers could make note of his location."

"H-how is that even possible?" Maria frowned. "Are you saying that he's been _kidnapped?"_

"That is a possibility. There's also that chance that he could have been injured in the factory's explosion in such a way that we aren't able to track his location." Joshua looked at Maria with a raised eyebrow. "He's an experienced Reploid, Maria; he should be able to handle himself."

Maria's expression twisted a little. "Well, I'm still worried about him."

"I am going to go looking for him _after_ we've taken care of other bases." Zero fixed Maria with a serious frown. "Axl and the Limited infected are far more dangerous."

"Exactly." Joshua nodded in agreement. "And with the Reploid factories and one of the mechaniloid factories has been taken out of commission. That leaves five Limited bases to destroy, which shouldn't be an issue if we keep going at this rate."

Maria shifted from one foot to the other. "Well, yeah, I guess so…but X is usually at the forefront of these things, isn't he?"

"Not always." Zero folded his arms across his chest. "But he has been for a good deal of the time. If you're that worried about him, why don't you go looking for him yourself?"

"We still need your assistance here." Signas fixed Maria with a frown as she opened her mouth to respond. "There are four other mechaniloid factories and an infected mining operation to investigate, and Axl to find."

"Right." Rox nodded in response. "Where are you going to send us next, sir?"

 _Fzzzzt!_

Maria turned her head away from Signas sharply as the map suddenly glitched before disappearing from sight, replaced moments later by a familiar, boyish face with glowing red eyes and a wide grin.

"Axl!" Maria barked as the others turned to face the screen.

 _::Oh ho! So the newbie's heard of me!::_ Axl leaned back, revealing purple-and-white armor instead of the normal, darker colors. _::So, you're the one who destroyed Golden Drake, huh? I gotta say, I wasn't expecting some newbie to be able to do him in::_

"What do you want, Axl?" Zero stepped forward, moving in front of Maria.

 _::Nothing much::_ Axl's grin seemed to twitch, making it look more twisted. _::I just wanted to check in on you and see how you were all doing. Especially since X hasn't come back::_

Maria stiffened as her eyes widened sharply. "You—"

"What makes you think that X hasn't come back?" Zero shot a frown back at Maria, and she quickly shut her mouth.

 _::I don't think, Zero, I know::_ Axl leaned forward again as his grin started to become too wide for a normal face to handle. _::If you want him, you're going to have to try and find him, and I'm not in the mood to give you any hints after you blew up my bases::_

"We're not the ones who rigged them to self-destruct as soon as we took care of the bosses!" Maria snapped as she moved to stand next to Zero. She saw Zero shoot her a glare out of the corner of her eye, but she ignored him. "Don't think that we do stuff like that _on purpose,_ ya lunatic!"

Axl's grin faltered for a moment before it widened again, the teeth seeming to be sharper this time. _::Fire elementals and short tempers always seem to go hand-in-hand. But you are right, kid – you didn't do it on purpose. Drake's final moments were definitely entertaining, if not interesting::_

Maria gritted her teeth at that.

"Axl, we don't have to do this," Signas spoke up. "If you turn yourself in and tell us where this virus originated from, we won't have to cause any more destruction than we already have."

Axl burst out laughing. _::Do you really think that I'm going to listen to you? The Limited is all I need – I don't need to come back to you, let alone want to. What makes you think that I'm going to give up all this power and just come back?::_

 _::Axl, you're not thinking straight!::_

Maria sucked in a breath sharply when she heard the faint voice on Axl's side of the connection.

Axl's expression shifted, his grin dropping into a dark frown that made him look more murderous and less playful. His eyes moved to look at something behind him, but he didn't move his head. _::Shut up! I'll have you know that my mind hasn't been clearer in years!::_

 _::That's the virus talking! Axl, you need to listen to—::_

Axl turned abruptly and lunged off screen, a snarl clearly on his face in the second that he was still there. _::I said SHUT UP!::_

The yell of pain that followed made Maria wince in alarm. "X!"

 _::Get him out of here before he tries something else::_ Axl growled as he came back into view. He looked over at Maria and grinned. _::If you want him, you're going to have to find him. I've left a few clues lying around, so you shouldn't have a problem tracking him down! Let's see how long it'll take you to find him, Maverick Hunters!::_

The connection was cut abruptly, leaving the screen dark for a moment before the map flickered back into view.

Maria's fists clenched. "Axl…." She turned to look at Zero. "This hasn't happened before, has it?"

Zero paused at the question, raising an eyebrow. "If you're referring to the kidnapping, then yes, that has happened before, but that was before the Sigma wars when X was more of a wimp."

"We were also dealing with more human-based attacks and acting as last resorts if the terrorist cells got out of hand," Alia spoke up as she walked over. "The Emerald Spears, a carry-over from the previous century, seemed to have more against X than any of the other Maverick Hunters."

"Their original leader, Xander Payne, had something against Dr. Light after the first of the Wily Wars," Joshua explained. "He thought that robotics would cause the eventual destruction of everything and everyone was far better off without them. And he was willing to do anything he had to in order to make sure that Dr. Light would stop creating more Robot Masters – and, later, X."

"Blues mentioned they were having some trouble with the Emerald Spears when Dr. Light was building X," Maria spoke up. "They were causing a lot of problems in the city that Light had called his home and had pretty much turned the place into a warzone. It looked even worse than when Wily was up to no good, and that's saying something." She frowned. "How much trouble _have_ they been causing recently?"

"They've become quiet," Signas replied. "With the advancements that have been made, a large number of the cells have disbanded."

"I doubt that the Emerald Spears are much of a comparison to the damage that Sigma and the Limited virus have caused," Joshua spoke up. "And now with X being held captive, there are a number of different scenarios that could play out. Most of them aren't in our favor, if we leave X where he is."

"I'll go after him."

Zero snorted at Maria. "You? And how do you think you're going to be able to track him down?"

"Axl admitted that he left a few clues as to X's whereabouts," Maria replied. "They're probably where X was last. If I go there and poke around, I might be able to come up with something that could point to where Axl and X are."

"You don't have experience in doing that." Zero poked Maria in the chest, pushing her back a step. "You haven't been doing what we've done for _years_."

"Maria may not have experience in that, but she is experienced at solving problems," Joshua spoke up. "Humans – former or otherwise – are intuitive and inventive by nature, and Maria has technically lived for far longer than she might claim – a week in our dimension was seven years in another for her, where she spent time saving that world multiple times over. Solving puzzles and journeying across the landscape is something that Maria is experienced with."

"That world isn't ours." Zero's eyes narrowed at Joshua.

"And be glad it isn't," Maria replied shortly. "You don't have to deal with groups of humans trying to destroy the entire world on a regular basis." She sighed and shook her head. "Not to mention the super-powerful creatures that happen to be _living_ there. Shoot – people can catch what might be considered _demigods_."

"And you've done this?" Signas raised an eyebrow.

Maria let out a short bark of laughter. "Multiple times over. I'm one of the few that they trust to not go crazy and try to remake the world." The wide grin that had been starting to spread across her face became a little more subdued. "Look, I can take care of myself, and I want to look for X. There's more than enough people here that I can slip out, and the bases can still be taken out in record time."

Signas, Alia, Rox, and Zero exchanged looks at that.

"You may be experienced in other worlds, but you're not experienced in ours." Signas frowned disapprovingly. "We already have you registered as a member of the Hunters – and at a high rank at that, when the probationary period is up. Joshua is also registered as a member of our research division." He nodded to Joshua, causing Maria to blink in surprise.

"What? But…why?"

"Because the humans are going to start asking questions and are more than likely going to attempt to try to find out what your world is like and how to make sure they can keep track of you." Zero frowned at Maria with an annoyed expression. "They may like to pretend we're on even grounds with them, but actually following through with that is another matter entirely. There are people out there who still see us as nothing more than machines, and will not stop to consider the ethics of tearing a Reploid apart in order to see how they work. Joining the Maverick Hunters gives you some immunity from that, but not much."

Maria swallowed, paling as memories from the first time she had arrived on this particular world flashed through the back of her mind. "O-oh."

"We are going to be getting attention after what happened with you at the thermal plant, unfortunately," Joshua spoke up. "Hopefully, we will be able to keep them from probing too deeply and discovering things that might force us to stay here when we have a home elsewhere. Not to mention how important you've become on multiple other worlds."

Maria gave a shaky nod in response. "Y-yeah. Right. I guess I kinda blew any chance of that _not_ happening, huh?"

"Like any one of us knew what you were going to do in there." Zero grunted. "It was inevitable, anyway, since you're X's older sister."

"In any case, we can't allow you to leave the base for now," Signas spoke up. "The Limited virus is no doubt aware of how powerful you are, and we can't allow that power to fall under its control."

A shudder ran down Maria's spine. "Right."

"Zero, I'm placing you in charge of investigating X's and Axl's whereabouts."

Zero nodded curtly in reply. "Got it."

"Joshua, I assume that you have already started working on a cure to the Limited virus like I asked?"

Joshua nodded. "It's a fascinating study, to be sure. I'd like to know more of the effects it seems to have on Reploids, but there isn't very much data beyond the 'usual Maverick problems'."

Maria frowned at that. "You know, I've been thinking about that, and there's something about the Limited virus that seems…kinda familiar."

That got her a number of looks from the others.

"Care to elaborate?" Rox raised an eyebrow.

"Well, it's just…" Maria's frown deepened. "How do I put this…in our dimension, you guys are considered to be nothing more than video game characters – for the most part; there's some manga and comics where you're involved as characters, too. I think I remember poking around on a few fan sites on the Internet and reading something about a virus that popped up that wasn't connected to Sigma." She rubbed her head. "Let's see…I think there was something along the lines of it being created by a scientist in this time period – maybe a Reploid; I'm not entirely sure on that – and then it gained sentience and tried to do some kind of hive mind thing."

Maria's vision suddenly glitched mere moments before her head suddenly felt like it was going to split in two.

"Gah!" Maria gripped her head and stumbled into Zero, catching him by surprise.

"Hey, what the—"

And then everything shifted under her feet.

 **Vision Break**

 _"We are one."_

 **Vision Break**

"Hey! Hey, Maria!"

Maria shook her head and shook off Zero's grip on her shoulders.

"What just happened?!" Zero barked.

"Not so loud!" Maria hissed, rubbing her left ear. "This is only the second time that I've been hit with something like this as a Reploid, and it doesn't exactly _help_ when you yell like that!"

"The second time?" Signas repeated.

"What did you see?"

Everyone looked over at Joshua, who was the only one who didn't look like he was freaking out over Maria's near-collapse.

"See?" Alia frowned. "What are you talking about?"

"It's another one of my abilities." Maria lowered her hand from her ear, frowning. "As a World Jumper, I have to have a basic idea of something that's wrong with a world before I can properly get myself involved. You guys beat my powers to it by calling me in instead of just letting one of my headaches and visions do the job for me. Joshua, I only got a voice this time."

Joshua raised an eyebrow. "And?"

"Three words – 'we are one'."

The group stared at Maria with confused expressions except for Joshua, who frowned.

"It sounds like you were on to something with the hive mind idea," Joshua noted. "It's more likely that Axl is being controlled by the virus itself and less likely that he's following programmed impulses that come with being infected by it. And if the virus has X now—"

"It's going to be controlling him, too, isn't it." Maria's face was pale again. "Oh, Primus above and below…."

"Who?" Rox frowned.

"Nobody in this dimension that you should concern yourself with," Joshua replied. "The one we should be concerned about is the Limited. We are still unsure as to how it spreads and what exactly it does, but we can add a hive-mind state to the list of symptoms brought on by the infection."

Maria shuddered. "At least it's not calling itself Brainiac."

Joshua gained a grim expression. "I'll go back to the lab and study what data we have on the virus a little more closely. Maybe some of my own data will be able to provide some information on the Limited."

"What makes you say that?" Zero raised an eyebrow.

"Maria isn't the only one who has knowledge on this world because of the entertainment on our world." Joshua gave a knowing smile. "It will probably take some time to find the information, but I think that I'll be able to find it."

"Excellent." Signas nodded in approval. "Any information you find will be useful. Report back if you find anything pertaining to the Limited virus."

Joshua nodded in response, then slipped out of the room without another word.

"I'm going to get on X's trail," Zero announced. "If he's going to be infected, we're going to have to move fast in order to bring him back and cure him." He turned and walked out, his ponytail nearly smacking Maria in the face.

"Rox, I'm sending you to the recycling plant that the Limited has infected." Signas nodded to Rox, who saluted in response.

"Understood." Rox turned and ran towards the transerver.

Maria watched him leave before looking up at Signas. "I guess I'm going to be sticking around until something big happens, right?" At Signas' nod, she shrugged. "So, what am I going to be doing until then?"

"Waiting for the interested human scientists to arrive," Signas replied. "Which should be soon."

Maria swallowed. "Oh. W-well, okay then."

"Are you really nervous about meeting with them?" Alia raised an eyebrow. "You shouldn't be. You've been living with humans your entire life as one, haven't you?"

"W-well, yeah, but _as_ a human – not someone who could possibly be treated as something…less than that." Maria shifted her feet a little, causing a scraping noise as her boots rubbed against the metal floor beneath them. "And the only other experience I've had with curious humans who _weren't_ Dr. Light was when Wily got his grubby hands on me." She shuddered at the memory. "I'd rather not have that happen again."

"You mean that you and Joshua don't have someone to turn to in case both of you are damaged?" Signas frowned. "That is a dangerous state to be in, young lady."

Maria ducked her head at that. "There _are_ people that we trust to repair us, yes, but none of them are human." She smiled sheepishly. "Our dimension's got a race of giant, sentient mechanical beings; my family is considered to be close allies and partners with some of them – including a couple of medics. If Joshua or I need a little help with something, we can always go to one of them."

Alia and Signas exchanged looks at that.

"And do these beings have creators?" Signas asked.

"Not in the idea that another race made them, no." Maria frowned. "At least, as far back as their history goes. No one seems to know when or how their planet and creator, Primus, was created. Most people just call the planet 'Cybertron,' anyway."

"Cybertron?"

Maria stiffened slightly when she heard the new voice, and she turned in order to see who had asked the question.

"I don't think that I've heard of a planet like that, but it certainly sounds like the people living there could certainly be at least somewhat mechanical in nature." The skinny man standing there rubbed his chin thoughtfully as he looked at Maria with a pair of curious brown eyes. "Have you been there?"

"A…a few times." Maria looked the man over cautiously, "Humans wouldn't be able to go up there without a suit, though – they don't have enough oxygen up there to support that kind of life, so most of the atmosphere is pretty poisonous."

"Really? And I assume you're equipped to be able to handle something like that?" The man adjusted his circular glasses as his eyebrows shot up.

"Well, yeah." Maria shrugged. "I don't technically _need_ to breathe."

"Well, yes, I suppose not, but I would have thought-" The man paused, blinking. "Oh, right – I've forgotten to introduce myself!" He held out a hand, grinning excitedly. "I'm Dr. Hadron. It's a real honor to be able to meet someone as old as yourself face to face!"

Maria blinked at that, then accepted the handshake. "I'm…really younger than I seem to be. A year has passed for me in the dimension that I call home, so my body's technically a year old, I guess? But I'm really eighteen."

 _Beep! Beep! Beep!_

"Dagnabbit!" Hadron slipped his hand out of Maria's and reached into a pocket of his lab coat. He pulled out what looked like a black, blocky iPhone with a satellite dish attached to the top. "Why's this thing goin' off now?" He waved it around the room, frowning. "Is there some kinda natural rift in this place we don' know about…?"

The beeping got louder when Hadron pointed the device at Maria, and he looked between the device's screen and Maria with a frown.

"You said y'er younger _and_ ya live in another dimension?" Hadron waved the device at Maria. "Is that right?"

Maria nodded. "Yeah." She frowned. "Are you going to say that I'm wrong?"

Hadron hesitated. "Well…I _would_ , but I ended up meetin' a strange man a few days ago who showed me a few things. Even gave me this in case I wanted ta call 'im and keep an eye out for natural rifts." He waved the device his hand, revealing a silver symbol on the back of the black case – a hand of some kind.

Maria had only just started counting the fingers on the symbol when Hadron put it back in his pocket. She blinked for a moment, then shook her head and frowned. "Natural rifts? I haven't run into any of those, but I can create portals – I was able to back when I was human, too."

Hadron frowned. "When you were human? Reploids weren't humans before."

"Well, I was – Joshua, too. Dr. Light saved my life when I was on my deathbed, and he turned me into a Reploid." Maria folded her arms across her chest. "Joshua's situation was a little different."

"Oh! Yes, I talked to him earlier and did find proof of changed organic material in his systems; I suppose Dr. Light saving your life isn't quite as far-fetched." Hadron pulled out a pad of paper and a pen and started writing. "He mentioned something about your soul being bound—"

Signas cleared his throat. "I apologize for interrupting you, Doctor, but you are in the middle of our communication hub, and we are in the middle of fighting against a dangerous virus. Perhaps it would be wise if you were to move this to a more private area? The labs, perhaps?"

"Oh!" Hadron looked up. "Oh, yes, that would probably be a far better idea. Sorry – I wasn't thinking about what you Reploids might consider private. Maria, would you mind accompanying me to somewhere we can talk?"

"Uh…sure." Maria looked over at Signas and Alia, who both nodded. "Lead the way, Doc."

 **Uh oh. X is being held captive by the virus - that's not a good thing.**

 **If anyone's wondering, Hadron _technically_ isn't an original character - he's a counterpart to someone that I'm guessing a lot of Disney fans might know...if you've been watching a certain show that ended last February... Let's just say I've been thoroughly affected by it. :D**

 **Anyway, I'll see you next week with the next chapter!**


	6. MegaMan X part 5

***looks up from iPhone* Oh, hi guys! I got Pokemon Go a couple days ago, and I've been messing around on it a bit! I haven't gotten any really powerful Pokemon yet, though - or rare ones, really. I've mostly been running into Weedle and Pidgey out here...**

 **Thanks to Taeniaea and nicopop for the Follows!**

 **Shadescribe - Yup, we know where X is. The question now is how to get to him.**

 **Anyway, we're gonna have a little bit of a slow chapter here, considering that there's going to be quite a bit of talking...so here we go!**

 **Chapter 6 – MMX part 5**

 **Maria's POV**

Hadron ended up leading me over to the human side of the Maverick Hunter Base.

I hadn't even been _aware_ that there was a human side to the base, let alone there were people who were actually living in it. And, apparently, Hadron was one of them.

"Okay; I think this'll be private enough." Hadron looked around the room that he'd led me to, which was actually in his apartment. "There's no way that anybody's gonna be comin' in – I'm the only one who knows the code!"

I rubbed my arm, wishing I'd thought to put up a mirage over my armor so that I hadn't looked so out-of-place. "I'm not used to getting stares like that from people. That was just…too weird."

Hadron looked over at me and raised an eyebrow, cocking his head to one side. "Yer not used to it? I'd 'ave thought you would have gotten a lot of that back where you came from."

"Well, when people get kidnapped and dragged to another dimension that they used to think was fictional, they tend to keep more of an open mind. Plus, I _can_ keep my armor hidden using the Light Refractor that Dr. Light installed." I activated the ability in question, letting my armor seem to morph into an orange jacket, red shirt, jeans, and shoes.

Hadron jumped at the sight. "Oh, my! That's an interestin' technique!"

I couldn't help but smile a bit at his reaction. "Well, Dr. Light knew that I was going to have to blend in back at home somehow, so he made things a little easier for me." I let the mirage drop, revealing my armor again. "It's helped a _lot_ , since I had to go through about a year and a half of high school like this."

"You still went to school?" Hadron raised an eyebrow.

I shrugged. "Mom and Dad insisted. Besides, I'm more used to learning things like that than, say, downloading stuff." I frowned. "Which, considering the only place I could download anything _from_ is the _Internet_ , that's just asking for trouble, and I'd rather not try that."

Hadron's eyebrows shot up, and he shuddered. "Oh, the very _idea_! I can see why you opted for high school, then. Are ya plannin' on goin' to college?"

"Maybe, yeah. My brother took a year off so that he could get some plans together – I'm considering following his lead for now."

I decided not to say anything about my World Jumping abilities yet; Hadron would probably poke around enough and find out about them eventually, but I wanted to see what he was going to focus on besides that first.

"So, accordin' ta what the Hunters tol' us, yer basically a fire elemental." Hadron pointed his pen at me as he pulled out his pad of paper again and started scribbling.

I nodded. "Pretty much, yeah."

"Ah didn't think I'd hear of one who could absorb fire without any issues, though." Hadron raised an eyebrow at me. "How'd Light manage that one?"

I shrugged. "Even I'm not sure. It's something that I've been able to do since I was a human, and I'm not planning on questioning it now."

Hadron's eyes slowly moved up from his pad. "You could do that as a human."

I nodded.

Hadron set his pad aside and rubbed his temples. "Listen, Miss Reploid—"

"Maria."

"—Maria, I find it impossible that humans could be able to exhibit powers like what Reploids are equipped with. It's impossible."

"Some people might say dimensional travel is impossible, and you believe it."

Hadron snorted. "Yeah, 'cause I _met_ someone who proved that to me!" He pulled out the iPhone-like device that I had seen earlier. "The man who gave me this _told_ me that there are infinite universes out there, and he gave me proof. Makes me look like a kook to the rest o' the staff, but I don' care."

There was something about this guy's southern twang of an accent and how this guy looked that was oddly familiar, but I wasn't able to place where exactly it was that I'd seen him.

I decided against focusing on that for now and shifted to the other part of his short rant.

"You met someone?" I raised an eyebrow. "Who?"

"Some inter-dimensional traveler who was tryin' ta get home." Hadron waved the device in his hand around before putting it back in his pocket. "The fella didn' seem too keen on stickin' aroun' for long – somethin' about robots always bein' bad news in differen' universes or somethin'."

"Someone trying to get home?" I frowned. "Well, I hope that he manages to get home. If I ever run into him, I'll see if there's anything that I can help."

"Can you?" Hadron raised an eyebrow.

"Well, yeah. That thing went off when it noticed me, and I _can_ create natural portals to other worlds. No, I'm not going to do it unless I have to, and considering the virus running rampant, that basically needs that I need to stick around for a while and help."

"Oh! O-of course, of course; all I ask is that I be there when you leave this dimension."

I blinked at that. "Uh…sure."

Something about my response made Hadron raise an eyebrow. "What is it? Do you _not_ want to do that in front of me?"

"No, no, it's not that – I have no problem doing that kind of thing when the time comes." I raised my hands in a placating gesture, then let them drop. "It's just…considering all the looks that I was getting out there and the experience I've had with…others who have been curious about me and how I work…I was worried that all this would be a lot more painful than it is." I motioned to Hadron's apartment, which looked pretty normal in my eyes. "Especially after…what happened not too long after I _became_ a Reploid."

Hadron blinked at that. "Ya mean the rumor that's goin' around that you were one of Wily's at some point?"

I shuddered, making my armor rattle a little and causing Hadron's eyes to widen sharply.

"Oh my goodness…. You mean that was true?"

"I don't like to talk about it very much…but yes, that did end up happening." I nodded grimly. "Can we not talk about that? I've established already that I've got an immunity to the Sigma virus because of that, and I'd rather not go into the details of what happened to _get_ me that immunity."

"Too painful, huh?" Hadron's eyebrows came together in a concerned expression. "Yeah, I was worried abou' that. That cousin o' yours made it a point to mention that, too."

I stiffened at that. "He—"

"He didn' tell me abou' the specifics; don' worry abou' that. I won' press ya."

I sighed in relief. "Thank goodness."

"I am curious abou' that core o' yours, though."

I stiffened again, one hand drifting over my chest armor. "My core? Why are you so curious about it?"

"Well, Joshua said that your soul was bound up in it somehow and…well, I'm curious as to what it looks like."

I had both hands over my chest now. "The Cybertronians have cores similar to mine, but they call them Sparks. That is where there soul resides, and they consider it to be the most important part of them. People don't just _ask_ out of the blue if they can see it. It's the only thing I have left that makes me…well, me. I don't want anything to happen to it."

"And nothin' will," Hadron replied smoothly. "I promise, I jus' wanna look at it – I'm not gonna take it out or anythin'."

My eyes narrowed. "You promise?"

"Cross my heart." Hadron promptly did just that and held up his hands, still holding onto his pad and his pen.

I considered that for a moment. I didn't want to just trust people willy-nilly and let them have a look at the very thing that I considered my soul without permission without knowing what exactly their intentions were. However, that itching feeling that I'd had about Hadron and how familiar he looked was still bugging me at the back of my mind somewhere, and the feeling wasn't letting up.

"…well, all right."

At the flip of a mental switch, my chest armor shifted its position slightly, allowing it to open up and slide to the sides like one of those sliding doors. I saw the sky-blue glow come out and get Hadron's attention instantly.

"Well I'll be a racoon's uncle." Hadron dropped his pen and pad on the coffee table and instantly moved in for a closer look. "That looks more like a crystal of some kind – are you sure this is the thing that's keepin' ya runnin'?"

"There's more to this kind of crystal than meets the eye," I replied. "I picked it up in another dimension, when I was still human. It's just a shard from a larger one, but it's got enough energy to keep me going, especially when I supplement it with everything else that I have access to."

Hadron bent over to give my core a closer look. "The light's kinda soothin'. Almost feels like one o' my Ma's hugs after I'd scraped myself up." He hesitated for a moment, then stepped back. "Maybe you should do that more often. Could stop some people right in their tracks."

"If I did, then there's a greater chance that it could be taken right out of me, and who knows what would happen then?" I closed the armor up before Hadron could get any ideas about that. "I'd rather not take the risk, considering what this means to me."

"Yes, you have been quite clear on that – soul boun' to the thing an' all." Hadron made a quick note on his pad. "I can't imagine bein' put in a situation like yours. Almost seems like somethin' out of one of those ancient science fiction books, ta be honest."

"Yeah, I've had it described that way to me a few times already." I rubbed the back of my head. "It's becoming my new normal, though, since there's no chance of me changing back."

"Must be weird, though, walkin' that fine line between human an' Reploid. I assume you're able ta take care o' yerself?"

I nodded. "Joshua and I keep an eye on each other, and we have friends who know what to do if both of us are hurt. I haven't taken any large amounts of damage recently, either, so I'm not really in need of any repairs."

"Does that mean you still have all your original parts?" Hadron raised an eyebrow.

I blinked. "Uh…yeah? Why do you want to know?"

"Well, we've been tryin' ta figure out X's parts and his movements, but that ol' Reploid's been huntin' Mavericks fer so long he's had to have a few parts replaced. If'n you've still got the originals, then we might be able ta figure out if we're doing anythin' wrong or if we changed anythin' from how Dr. Light put ya together. If yet his prototype fer X, we might be able ta use yer plans to improve the future, ya know?"

"If I'm the prototype though, wouldn't X be the better example, though?" I raised an eyebrow.

"In theory, yes. But there has been…some data lost because of those stupid uprisingings." Hadron rubbed his head, ruffling his hair. "Ya have ta understand, Sigma doesn't _just_ attack factories and mining operations; he mines _data_ and takes what he can, as well. X's data has been pulled from the computers so many times by him that the data has been corrupted."

"Oh. I guess that makes sense." I rubbed the back of my head. "Well, I _am_ willing to help, but I'm not willing to give away everything about me. There are…some things that just shouldn't be passed on."

"Like how you got your immunity?" Hadron raised an eyebrow. "Could you give us any hints as to a program or—"

"You _don't_ want that."

My harsh tone caught Hadron by surprise. He blinked a couple times, then adjusted his glasses and frowned. "Young lady, former human or not, you are still a Reploid. And Reploids are technically under humans in this day and age."

"See if I care!" I snapped back. "I'm not about to let this curse of mine get saddled onto anyone else who doesn't need or deserve it! The Protocol is _mine_ to bear – not anyone else's! X isn't getting it, Zero definitely isn't getting it, and I'm not letting _anyone else_ have to deal with it or so help me I'll have Joshua _rip_ the data right out of my head even if it means it _kills_ me!"

Hadron's glasses slid down his nose as his eyes widened at that. "Oh. It was…that bad of an experience?"

I shot him a glare that made him shut his mouth. "When you feel like your brain's been torn apart, you don't want anyone else to have to deal with that pain."

Hadron blinked a couple times. "I…I think that other fella mentioned that I shouldn' take my sanity fer granted. I'll make sure that we don' go pokin' aroun' in yer head fer that."

"Thank you." I felt my shoulders relax.

"Eh…yeah." Hadron pushed his glasses back up. "I'm probably gonna get penalized fer this, but I'm not gonna give in when it comes to a kid who's been put through the ringer. Especially if she set off that rift-seeker." He patted the pocket where the iPhone-like device was hiding. "I'll make sure they don' mess with ya."

"Thanks." I gave a short nod. "Right now, though, I'm more worried about what's going on involving the virus. That Limited monster-thing is the main reason that I came here in the first place."

"Really?" Hadron spun the pen in his fingers. "Interesting. I might have to start looking into multidimensional theory at this rate."

"Well, it's not a bad thing to get into." I shrugged. "So, uh…do have any _other_ questions for me?"

"Basic stuff, really – now, I can't let you activate your weaponry in here, but I was wondering what the basic extent of your abilities are."

My expression brightened at that. "Well, I'm basically a fire elemental Reploid at heart, and I do have a Buster to use sometimes. It cycles through three different settings – basic, stun, and freeze. The rest of the time, though, I just summon fire and use it in…spells, I guess. Even my parents don't know where the power comes from, since I had it back when I was a human, too."

"Fascinatin'." Hadron started writing furiously. "So you just suddenly developed these powers, then? When?"

"Some time after I turned sixteen – it happened the first time that I arrived in an alternate dimension. I'm eighteen now."

"Ah. So you've been traveling to different dimensions for two years of your dimension's time, I assume?"

"More like a year and a half. Time tends to warp between dimensions. A week on my world is seven years on another. I'm not sure how much time exactly happens between here and my home dimension, though, but I'm sure that I'll be able to figure it out after the issues here are taken care of."

 _"Fascinating!"_ Hadron was writing even more vigorously, now. "I'm definitely going to have to investigate this – you wouldn't mind if I—"

 _Beep! Beep! Beep!_

Hadron paused as I stiffened at the sound of the noise, and he let out an annoyed groan. "Of all times –" He pulled out the iPhone device and swiped a finger across the screen before holding it up to his ear. "Hadron here. What's the problem?" The annoyed frown that had been on his face changed abruptly into something that resembled shock. "What? How? I thought it was decided that they weren't able to do anything of that kind! Sl-slow down!"

"What's going on?" I frowned. "Has something happened with the Limited virus?"

Hadron glanced over at me for a moment with a nervous expression before looking back at his phone. "I'll be right there with Maria." He lowered the phone and disconnected the call before dropping the phone back in his pocket.

"What's going on?" I demanded, feeling a buzzing start at the back of my head. My vision flashed for a moment – glazed over green eyes, a crazed laugh that I'd only heard once or twice on a TV. "Has something happened to X and Zero?"

Hadron gave me a look of surprise. "How did you manage to figure that out?"

"World Jumpers get visions – of course I'm going to know if something bad happened to them." My eyes narrowed sharply. "You said you were going to be heading somewhere with me, right?"

"Yes – back to the communication hub."

"Then let's go – if X and Zero are in danger, then we haven't got a moment to lose!"

 **Well scrap. Sounds like there's something nasty going on...**

 **Tune in next week for the next chapter!**


	7. MegaMan X part 6

**Hi, guys! I'm back with the next chapter!**

 **Shadescribe - It kind of is, but I think a lot of people would have that opinion in this world - at least, some would. There are a lot of people who might see them as nothing more than machines who serve the humans (which could and would eventually lead to an uprising of some kind), but there are others who see them as equals. It's the same as how different human races are with each other (I don't think I have to tell you to go anywhere for proof on that). And something dangerous is coming, all right...**

 **Here we go!**

 **Chapter 7 – MMX part 6**

 **Maria's POV**

As soon as we got back to the communication hub, I noticed that the room seemed to be more tense than it had been when we'd left.

Signas looked over at us as Hadron and I came over. "We have a situation."

"What kind?" Hadron came to a stop, frowning at the Reploid while my gaze went to the monitor. "Maria seems ta think that it's got somethin' ta do with X and Zero."

I saw the look Alia shot me out of the corner of my eye, and I moved my gaze from the circled part of the map to look over at the others. "It's just a feeling I got; I didn't have a full vision complete with headache."

"So, is it?" Hadron raised an eyebrow.

"It has…something to do with them, yes," Signas replied cautiously. "We lost contact with Zero in this area." He motioned to the circled area on the monitor, which was close to where one of the destroyed Reploid factories was – and right around the area where X had disappeared too. "Axl hasn't contacted us, but we believe that Zero might have been captured by the Limited, as well."

"What?" I frowned. "But Zero's one of the best, isn't he? There's no way that he would have been captured that easily or that quickly." I looked around at the group. "Right?"

"Not unless he was overwhelmed with large numbers," Signas replied. "Usually, however, in those situations he has other Hunters nearby to back him up."

"X and Axl."

"Recently, that has been all that he's needed, yes."

I nodded, my frown deepening. "So…what are we going to do now? We can't just—"

"I was considering sending you and Rox after him."

I stopped short, blinking in surprise. "You…what? Really?"

"Are you sure that's a good idea?" Hadron asked, frowning. "I mean, she's just a kid."

"One who has proven herself to be more than capable of standing against Mavericks on her own," Signas replied calmly.

"I haven't even gotten enough data to replace the corrupted files!" Hadron waved his pad in the air. "And I still haven't gotten a look at her insides!"

"Joshua's got a copy of my design; you can ask him about it," I responded. I blinked when I heard the tenseness in my voice that was trying to come out as a squeak, but I shook it off. "Look, X and Zero are probably in danger, and if any one of us can do the same amount of damage that they can, it's probably me. I wanted to be the one to go after X before, but Zero went instead."

"And you're even more inexperienced than those two," Hadron insisted. "Maria, you don't know how Mavericks—"

"I have more than enough experience stopping people who think that they're 'helping' the world only for things to start to not go in the direction they had planned," I replied pointedly, remembering the seven or eight years that I'd spent on Neo-Mobius as a Pokémon Trainer. "And my world as you guys as video game characters, so I'm more than aware as to how things could go down around here."

"The real world is far different from video games, Maria."

I turned my head, blinking as Joshua walked over.

"Well, yeah, I kinda figured that." I frowned at him.

"They never covered anything like this." Joshua's eyes narrowed into a frown. "The Limited is far more dangerous than the Sigma Virus. According to what I was able to find, it was originally designed to act as a cure to the Sigma Virus, but it was somehow able to gain a mind of its own and it thought that the only way to stop the Sigma Virus was to infect _everyone_ with itself. With the path that it is taking, it is only going to end up infecting every Reploid and mechaniloid on the planet, and then maybe find a way to ensure that the humans living here don't stop it."

Hadron let out an uneasy noise. "Y-you're not suggestin'—"

"In science fiction, robot uprisings very quickly become dangerous for humans if something isn't done soon enough." Joshua looked over at Hadron as the skinny scientist paled. "We are going to have to move quickly if we are going to be able to reverse what the Limited has done, before it's too late."

My fists clenched, nervous at the idea as every single scenario that I'd ever heard about, read, or watched flicked through the back of my mind. "We're definitely going to have to move, then. And _fast_."

I could hear multiple people quote _The Hunger Games_ at the back of my mind, but I was starting to feel less like I wanted to get out in the middle of all the fighting.

A Pokémon Trainer and Champion I may be, but a soldier? Not so much.

"Maria." Joshua clapped a hand on my shoulder. "Calm down. Nerves aren't going to be able to do anything for us here. I'll go with you and do what I can in order to back you up, but we're going to have to go out there, find X and Zero, and stop the Limited. Are you up to this?"

The fact that Joshua had just said I wasn't going to be doing this alone made me calm down at least a little. I gave a shaky nod in response. "Yeah. Let's go get my half-brother back before the Limited decides to do something stupid."

Joshua nodded in response, then looked over at Signas, who had a deep frown on his face. "We need to go now."

Signas' frown deepened, but he did give a nod in response. "Very well. There is a transerver set with the coordinates to Zero's last known location. Good luck."

Joshua and I nodded in response, then turned and started towards the room that I knew had the transervers in it. I followed after him on his heels.

"What's the matter with you?" He frowned at me. "You were able to handle the mechaniloid base next to the volcano just fine on your own. Why are you so nervous about what we're doing now?"

I shrugged. "I dunno! Maybe the adrenaline from earlier's worn off or something?"

"Well, you're going to need to pull yourself together if you're going to be able to do anything when we get out there."

We soon arrived in the transerver room, and Joshua quickly moved to the one that Signas had probably been talking about.

Joshua looked over at me again as we stopped in front of the transerver. "You're ready?"

I paused for a moment, then gave a nod in response. "Yeah. Let's go."

I stepped onto the transerver and warped out of the Hunter base…

…and materialized in the middle of what looked like a metal junkyard.

Joshua appeared next to me in a flash, then looked himself over. "Hm. Not too much different from the warp panels that Team Galactic made use of."

"Except that these ones aren't human-friendly as far as we know," I replied, looking over the area. "This place really looks like a warzone."

"I'd expect it, considering that a war technically is going on right now," Joshua replied dryly. He started walking over the metallic rubble. "Come on. There might be something here that hints at Zero's and X's whereabouts."

"I hope there is, or else we're just going to be wandering around willy-nilly until we just run into them." I followed after Joshua, carefully climbing over the sharp edge of a warped metal plate. "But that would take a little too long."

"Considering all the trouble that the virus has and will cause, I agree with that."

We reached the bottom of the pile of metal, where my feet hit broken concrete and asphalt that was covered in scorch marks and looked like used to be a road. Pieces of green-and-purple armor and other Reploid innards were scattered around the area, dripping something that had the blue color of Energon but didn't glow with its energy.

I carefully stepped around an arm that looked like it had been severed cleanly, feeling a little sick at the sight of the carnage. "Looks like we might have just found something."

"This looks like Zero's handiwork." Joshua got down into a crouch and picked up a severed leg. "See here? The joint's been cut clean through."

I gave the leg a quick glance before I looked around the area again. "So we're probably on the right track as to where Zero went, but where do we go from here?"

Joshua dropped the leg with a dull clatter and rose to his feet. "My guess is that we follow the road; we might find more clues the further we go – and possibly find where the Limited virus is keeping Axl and X." He started moving ahead along the broken highway, avoiding cracks and the more unstable areas of the road. I followed after him, jumping over the larger gaps and avoiding the puddles of not-quite-Energon.

"You don't need to be so squeamish; they're just mechanical parts that can be easily replaced." Joshua glanced back at me as I caught up and fell into step next to him. "Reploids aren't as squishy as humans; you know that."

"That doesn't make me feel much better," I muttered in reply. "Those are still someone's parts scattered around back there."

"Wildfire wouldn't be gagging. You didn't either when you watched us play through the games, if I'm remembering right."

I ducked my head at that. "W-well, that's because it wasn't as graphic. You know that."

"Didn't you see more than enough to desensitize you on Neo-Mobius?"

"Pokémon don't rip other Pokémon's arms off! And they definitely don't shoot to kill, either!"

"But you were put in danger multiple times as a result of going after the various teams. Weren't you?"

I was about to argue that I wasn't when I remembered what had happened on Mt. Coronet and what had happened to Sonic and the other Mobians who had come up with me. And then in Unova, when I'd gone after Team Plasma and Ghestis' Kyurem on my own, without my team standing between me and the Ice Dragon-Legendary.

"…I guess I have put myself in some dangerous situations, but I didn't really think about what could have happened to me if I wasn't as comfortable with the knowledge of what was going to happen as I was." I rubbed the back of my head. "Besides, when you have teams of Pokémon as strong as Legendaries to back you up…."

"Still, you have placed yourself in dangerous situations before. This shouldn't be any different, regardless of what world-scenario you find yourself in." Joshua gave me a frown. "Keep a level head, Maria. And try to be consistent with what you've done and what you're signing yourself up for."

I nodded in response. "Y-yeah. Right."

We didn't run into any Reploids of mechaniloids on the road, but there were definitely continuing signs of carnage – obviously, Zero had been busy, especially since there were more robotic body parts the further we went – some belonged to Reploids, others mechaniloids.

The weird thing was, though, all of them were green and purple.

"Do you think the armor color is just because of the area that we're in?" I asked with a frown. "Or is it because of something the Limited did?"

"I'd think it's the Limited's work, since Axl's armor changed colors," Joshua replied without glancing over at me. "Perhaps its leaving a mark of some kind."

"Like how Mavericks always have red eyes." I nodded. "Makes sense." I frowned. "Although…Golden Drake had red eyes, and I don't think that he would have been made to have red eyes on purpose." I looked over at him. "The virus probably still causes the red eyes thing…."

"Maybe. That wasn't what I saw in the data from the Mega Man Knowledge Base, though." Joshua looked over at me, frowning.

I blinked. "The Wiki site?"

"Yeah. That was the only place that I was able to find any real information on the Limited and what it is capable of, considering that it didn't come from a video game or any of the other normal ways that we learn about different worlds." Joshua looked over at me. "If you heard about it, you must've been on the site at some point. Why would you have even gone there?"

I frowned at the question, stepping around what looked like used to be the body of some kind of big mechaniloid that had been slashed in two – one of those flying blimp-things, maybe? "I think I was on there at the beginning of the school year last year. Someone mentioned they were making a post based off the game and were setting up a profile for me."

I didn't need to specify _which_ game I was talking about, considering what world we were on already.

"They were getting a lot of stuff wrong, too, so a group of my friends decided to intervene. It got pretty heated on the site, and I'm pretty sure Alia would have gotten kicked off the site if Khrista hadn't hunted down one of the people who had an account there and got us into contact with the guy who started the wiki in the first place. Now there's a whole page on me and I got pretty regular emails for three months after that asking for pictures of my armor and proof that I really was a Reploid inside and out." My frown turned into a scowl. "I deleted most of them and sent polite responses back without photos."

"You do realize that pictures of you in your armor walking around school from Welcome-Back Week still made it online, right?" Joshua raised an eyebrow at me. "I was on the site at the time when chatter exploded across the forums. It seems that you've started to collect your own fanbase whether you like it or not."

I groaned. " _Great._ Which means that if I so much as step out of town I'm gonna get clobbered by—"

 _Crunch._

I cut myself off as Joshua and I stopped short at the noise; I started to look around in order to see where the sound came from. We moved to stand back to back as I summoned my Buster.

I felt Joshua bump against my back, stiff for a moment before he relaxed slightly. His armor shifted against my hoverboard, making an uncomfortable scraping noise. "There you are."

"It's too dangerous for you two to be out here."

I turned around sharply when I heard the familiar voice, and my eyes widened when I caught sight of Zero jumping down from a pile of scrap metal, retracting his sword's laser blade back into its hilt. "Zero!"

"You disappeared off the grid," Joshua explained. "We came out in order to find you."

"Well, as you can see, I'm fine. But you two won't be if you stay here." Zero frowned at Joshua before looking over at me, and I blinked when I saw how his eyes looked.

They looked like they were a dark blue, and I couldn't see any pupils. At all.

Plus, it looked like there was something coming up and around his neck that looked eerily similar to vines of some kind….

I grabbed Joshua's shoulder and pushed him back behind me as my shoulders exploded with flames and I raised my Buster. "Stun Shot!"

The explosion of electric energy didn't hit Zero; he jumped up and back, letting my shot fly past without hitting him.

"Maria, what are you—"

"There's something wrong with his eyes!" I frowned at Zero, who hadn't moved from where he'd landed. "Look at his neck!"

"What's wrong with my neck?" Zero snapped, activating his Z-Saber. The green blade flickered to life in an instant, fizzing like a light saber. "You're the one who just shot at me!"

"You're telling me you haven't noticed the vines?" I snapped in reply. The fire on my shoulders spiked up and threw itself forward at Zero, but he jumped away again before it could make contact with him. "Hold still! I've got to get rid of it, or who knows what's going to happen!"

"When you're attacking me? I don't think so!"

"Zero, Maria doesn't harm people she considers allies and friends," Joshua spoke up. "If you _stand still,_ you won't be harmed."

Zero stopped moving and stood tense as I formed a Fire Sphere in my left hand. "Seriously?"

"Completely, ya sword-swinging nut." I let the fiery orb bounce in my hand a couple times. "Now hold still."

I threw the Fire Sphere at Zero.

The red-and-white-armored Reploid struggled between holding still and leaping out of the way as the attack collided with his chest and moved up to his neck instantly before moving down his back and under his ponytail.

Zero stiffened suddenly, the color in his eyes _flickering_ as the flames suddenly brightened for a moment before _exploding_ off his neck and back and fell to the ground in the form of…little green puffballs?

"Well, better safe than sorry," I muttered, summoning another Fire Sphere. I tossed it at Zero's feet, and the flames jumped from puffball to puffball and incinerated them with a metallic _zap_. The flames dissipated moments later.

Zero blinked a couple times, then shook his head and frowned at the two of us, his eyes now back to the blue-green that I'd first seen when I'd gotten here. "How did you know that would work?"

"The Limited may be mechanical, but it functions in ways that makes it similar to a plant," Joshua explained. "A part of it must have attached itself to you without your noticing it."

Zero deactivated his Z-Saber, but he still gripped the hilt as he frowned at the two of us. "And what – you two don't think you're going to be affected?"

"Well—"

"I didn't think that I was infected." Zero turned his gaze fully to me. "If it can trick my programming, then it can trick yours, Protocol or no."

I jolted at that, startled. "What?"

"What makes you think that?" Joshua spoke up, frowning.

"Ever since you got here, I haven't been able to shake the feeling that you're…familiar, somehow." Zero approached us, still gripping his Z-Saber as he looked me up and down. "I don't know where the feeling's coming from, but I _do_ know when something's connected to the Sigma Virus."

I blinked, then frowned. "I already told you that I'm immune because of what Dr. Wily did to me, or do you need another demonstration?"

Zero shook his head. "I remember." He put his hilt back in its place on his back. "Which makes me wonder if you happen to know anything about the person who might have created me in the first place."

My eyes widened sharply at that. "Wh-what makes you say that?"

"For one thing, you directly connected the Sigma Virus' origin to Dr. Wily." Zero looked over at Joshua. "For another thing, you two know about us from video games, and considering what I've heard about them from humans, they tend to reveal a lot about the characters who are involved. Especially the main ones." Zero looked at me again. "Which means that you must know at least something about my creator."

I swallowed and looked over at Joshua, whose face had pretty much become an unreadable mask.

"We do know," Joshua admitted, his tone even. "But now isn't the time to talk about it."

"Damn right it isn't," Zero growled back. "I've got a virus to take care of, and you two are going back to base before you get caught by it."

"And what if you get grabbed and end up in a worse state than just being aware of it?" I responded, raising an eyebrow. "Who knows what's happened to X at this point? I'm definitely not planning on going back when you haven't found him yet."

"Nor I," Joshua agreed.

Zero raised an eyebrow. "You're really planning on fighting against someone who's of higher command over rescuing X?"

"To save my half-brother?" I snorted. "Yes. My fire'll keep anything the Limited away from us, at least."

"And I am not about to let Maria put her life on the line when she has already done that three times in her life and shouldn't have to do it again." Joshua gave me a dry frown.

I scowled back at him.

Zero sighed irritably and shook his head. "All right; fine, you can come with me. Just promise that you won't get in my way."

Joshua and I nodded in response.

"Good. Let's go." Zero turned and leapt up onto the pile of scrap metal he'd been perched on top of when we'd first caught sight of him. I quickly jumped on my hoverboard, waited for Joshua to climb on, and followed Zero up.

When we got up to the top of the mound of scrap, I wasn't expecting what was on the other side.

I let out a squeak. "Is that thing the—"

"It's another base as far as I can tell," Zero replied evenly. He frowned at the building in front of us like he was going to be able to see through the mechanical vines that covered the walls of the large building in front of us. "It's been infected by the virus, though, if what you say is true."

"I doubt that plants would be able to grow so large in the middle of a city like this," Joshua replied, nodding to the skyscrapers that rose up in the distance. "We're in the industrial district of the city, right?"

"Yeah." Zero reached back and grabbed his Z-Saber. "Which means that there are a lot of Reploids around here that the Limited virus can attach itself to."

"Great." I frowned. "So if we go in there, we're going to be getting the attention of every single infected Reploid in the area. This is going to be fun."

Joshua rolled his eyes. "Just think of it as storming Team Galactic's base. Except there aren't Pokémon involved and there's a chance that your opponents will kill themselves with a self-destruct after you've defeated them."

"That's nothing like storming Galactic's base and you know it!"

"Save the bickering for later," Zero ordered. He half-jumped, half-slid down the scrap pile to the other side; I flew after him and landed on the ground, jumping off my hoverboard. Joshua followed suit seconds later, letting the device reattach to my back.

"Think it already knows we're here?" I asked, looking over at Zero.

Zero didn't say anything for a moment, eyeing the building ahead of us – it looked like it used to be a factory of _some_ kind; maybe another one that makes Reploids? But it looked like it was going to fall apart at any moment were it not for the mechanical vines that were coming out of windows and holes in the roof. Then he stiffened and shifted his stance. "Come on!"

 _Shoom!_

I jumped in surprise when Zero suddenly blasted towards the building. "Whoa!"

"That was a dash!" Joshua started running after Zero, then jumped up and blasted the jets in his feet so that he could fly after the Hunter.

I quickly shook off my shock and followed after them, running first before jumping up and firing the jets that were hidden in my _own_ feet. I was a little bit unbalanced on them, since I hadn't used them much since I'd gotten them, but I was able to keep up with Zero and Joshua as we reached the factory's front doors.

As soon as we got close enough, though, the door opened of their own accord and promptly blasted out a large number of the green puffballs that I'd seen when I'd hit the vines on Zero's neck.

"White Flare: Fire Spark!" I threw my left hand forward in an arc, unleashing the white-yellow flames that I was starting to feel extremely familiar with.

The flames passed through Joshua and Zero harmlessly before they collided with the puffballs.

 _Zzzrp!_

They all zapped each other before exploding into flames.

Zero and Joshua stopped short in front of the mass of flames as I caught up with them.

"Kid, you've got a lot of power for a prototype." Zero looked over at me with an appraising look.

I gave a nervous chuckle. "Heh. Well, I've picked up a few things since Dr. Light saw me last." I deactivated my Buster and held out my right hand, absorbing the flames from the puffballs and leaving our way into the factory clear of obstacles. "Come on; we still have to find X and Axl."

Zero nodded in response. "Follow my lead, and keep the Limited's attempts off our back."

"You got it!"

 **Heh heh. Things are going to get...very interesting next chapter. I'll see you guys next week!**


	8. MegaMan X part 7

**Hello! I'm back with the next chapter!**

 **Chapter 8 – MMX part 7**

The inside of the base was and wasn't something that Maria expected to see.

"There's so much green in here." Maria looked around, frowning at the metal below their feet and the walls of the large room they had entered. "I'd have thought that there'd be more of a variety in the colors or something."

"We don't have time to talk about this thing's fashion sense," Zero growled in reply. "Come on – we have to find where that virus is keeping X. Stay on your toes." He started walking forward, pulling out his Z-Saber and activating the blade. Joshua followed after him, and Maria brought up the rear, activating her Buster as she did.

Maria rested her left hand on top of her Buster, raising it up a little in case she had to move and fire it at a moment's notice. She scanned the room quickly, looking over what looked like strange green pods attached to the walls and hanging from the ceiling. "Don't you usually start running into Mavericks as soon as you get into these kinds of places?"

Joshua looked back. "Maria, I don't think—"

 _RIIIP!_

Zero and Maria turned suddenly to face opposite directions, the experienced Hunter's eyes narrowing while the World Jumper's widened.

"Oops." Maria's voice came out in a squeak when she caught sight of the pods on the walls being torn open on the inside, revealing what looked like green-and-purple faceless copies of X. "There's the Mavericks."

Zero gritted his teeth. "An ambush." He leapt forward and slashed one of the drones in two, causing it to fall to the floor, where it melted into a pile of green-and-purple sludge. "We need to move – quickly!" He started running across the room towards the other side, cutting the drones down without stopping.

"Come on!" Joshua motioned for Maria to follow, then took off after the Hunter with Maria on his heels.

"Fire Spark!" Maria lashed out with her left arm, sending a wave of red-white flames out and caught three drones as they dropped to the floor. They caught fire instantly and collapsed into gooey piles with what sounded like a high-pitched shriek.

Maria winced, but kept moving. "I don't like the sound of that!"

"We're going to have to deal with it." Joshua clenched his right fist, and his right arm glowed for a moment before revealing that he had activated his own Buster. He raised the build-in cannon and fired, unleashing an electric-blue blast at one of the drones and sending it flying, body sparking as it melted down into who-knew-what.

"What are these things _made_ out of?" Maria raised her Buster and shot down another one of the drones. "Are they plant constructs or something?"

"Possibly." Joshua shot down a second drone while Zero leapt into the air and slashed at an unopened pod, sending its contents splashing to the floor and causing any drones that were underneath it to get squashed. "Which, considering this virus' general theme, makes only some sense, considering that it's supposed to be a mechanical construct."

"You'll have time to investigate this later!" Zero snapped back at them as he landed. "Come on! We have to keep moving!"

"R-right! Sorry!" Maria picked up the pace, falling into step to Joshua's left as she threw a Fire Sphere at another pair of drones that were coming up on them.

 _Brrzp!_

Joshua shifted his position as he kept moving, moving his Buster away from the pile of sludge he'd just shot down and aiming at another one and firing again. "They're not equipped with Busters."

Maria turned her head sharply to look at her cousin; Zero glanced back for only a moment before he turned and cut down more drones that were standing ahead of them. "What?"

"The ones that are far away from us aren't shooting at us." Joshua's eyes narrowed as his Buster started throbbing with energy. "They would be if they were planning to stop us from going any further."

"Are you suggesting that they're _leading_ us deeper into the base _on purpose?"_ Maria's voice came out with a squeak.

"It's likely," Joshua replied.

Zero stopped moving forward suddenly, causing Maria and Joshua to stop short before they could accidentally run into him. The Hunter glanced back at the two of them. "Are you suggesting that the Limited might be planning on taking us?"

"Considering our power and the fact that we found this place rather quickly – not to mention our origins – I should think that the Limited would be very interested in us," Joshua replied without missing a beat.

"Then it'd be attacking me, wouldn't it?" Zero pointed out. His head moved sharply, and he brought up his Saber and cut down more drones that had gotten close. The pods in the room were all open now, but there weren't very many drones that hadn't been cut down or shot.

"You are a powerful Reploid," Joshua pointed out. "The Limited may want you on its side."

Zero snorted. "Like I'm going to join when it's doing this." He swung his Z-Saber out, taking out the last five drones at once. "Let's keep moving. I'd rather not stick around for much longer when these thing might be able to infect us." He jumped over the piles of sludge and started for the door to the next room. Maria and Joshua were quick to follow after him.

The next room wasn't as big as the first, and it was filled with computers made out what looked like a purple metal of some kind. There were a few pods in the room, but these looked like they had been regular capsules that had been added onto and colored green and purple like the rest of the building clearly was.

"…I'm getting a _bad_ Brainiac vibe from this stuff." Maria shuddered.

"Brainiac?" Zero glanced back at Maria and raised an eyebrow.

"A computer virus located in another dimension," Joshua explained. "He apparently thought his objective was to gather data from across the universe and destroy any other source of information for those various places – including human life."

"He uses _any_ kind of data center as a way to get the info he wants," Maria added. "Organic, technological, it doesn't matter to him. He would have gotten into my head if the Protocol hadn't kicked him out."

"Huh." Zero looked around the room again. "And these are his colors?"

"Oh, yeah. And that's just making me even _more_ nervous about what's coming." Maria frowned at one of the capsules that was closest to them, connected to one of the computers. "Especially with these things in here."

"Let's keep moving." Zero started moving across the room, walking around the giant green pillar in the center of the room and looking around. "Staying in one place for long like this is never a good idea."

"I'll agree with you on that!" Maria quickly followed after him, then paused and looked back at Joshua, who hadn't moved. "Joshua, come on! We've got to find X and Axl, remember?"

Joshua jolted at that, blinking a couple times before he turned and looked over at Maria with a slightly glazed expression. He blinked again, then shook his head as the glazed expression faded. "R-right."

Maria frowned at him. "Are you feeling all right?" Fire flickered on the fingertips of her left hand. "You looked off for a moment there."

"I'm fine." Joshua shouldered past Maria and started after Zero, a serious frown forming on his face. "We shouldn't stay in this place for long."

Maria raised an eyebrow at him, then followed after her cousin. "Are you really sure you're all right? That sounded a lot more forceful than you usually are."

"I'm fine, Maria. Don't worry about me." Joshua's tone was flat and forced.

"That's only making me worry even more, you know." Maria frowned, her eyes zeroing in on the back of Joshua's neck, but she didn't see anything that looked similar to the vines that had been on Zero's neck. "At least you haven't picked anything up." She blinked a couple times before her frown deepened. "You just had a vision, didn't you."

Joshua stopped short halfway around the pillar in the middle of the room, causing Maria to come to a stop before she could end up bumping into his back.

"There isn't an exit to this room." Zero turned and looked back at the other two Reploids. "We're going to have to find another way to go deeper into this base, and I didn't see an opening in the first room."

Maria's eyes widened before they narrowed as she scowled. "Well, isn't that just great. What are we going to do now?"

"Poke around." Zero nodded to the computers. "There might be something here that could hint at X's and Axl's location." He walked over to the computer that was nearest to them, retracting his Z-Saber's blade and starting to type quickly.

Joshua turned to look at Maria, a serious frown on his face. _-Something's going to happen in this room soon. Be ready-_

Maria jolted in surprise when she heard Joshua's voice echo in her head, and she gave him a harsh frown and opened her mouth to retort. "Wha—"

 _-This is an ability that carried over from when I was human before; I wouldn't be able to activate the Protocol without your knowledge. I should think that you knew that-_ Joshua glanced over at Zero for a moment, but the Hunter hadn't so much as glanced over in their direction. _–I did have a vision of sorts-_

 _Of sorts?_ Maria frowned. _What do you mean by that?_

 _-It was just audio. We are about to have a visitor in this room-_

Maria's eyes widened sharply.

"Hey, you two." Zero looked over, frowning. "Start looking around; I'm not going to be able to find what we're looking for fast enough if you don't move."

"Sorry; Joshua said—"

 _Rrrrrr_

Maria cut herself off when a rumbling noise started to rise up from below, shaking the metal floor they were standing on.

Zero turned sharply, looking for something that could represent the source of the rumbling as the shaking started to increase, causing the computers and pods to rattle loudly. His eyes were quick to find the source. "The pillar!"

Maria's eyes quickly shot over to the green pillar, and they widened sharply when she saw it slowly moving upward. "Ooooh scrap." She took a step back. "This doesn't look good."

"No scrap, Sherlock," Zero snarked in reply. He activated his Z-Saber again. "Whatever is coming, it probably isn't going to be friendly."

Maria nodded slightly in agreement as her Buster started to thrum, ready to release a Charged Shot at a moment's notice. "Joshua, what do you think?"

"I think that we've stepped into a trap." Joshua raised his own Buster slightly, but he didn't start to charge a shot.

Maria swallowed loudly.

A loud rattle filled the room suddenly as the pillar jolted up suddenly, causing the railing and the part of the platform surrounding it to buckle as the pillar _bulged_ mere seconds before _tentacles_ exploded from somewhere below the floor.

Maria jumped back with a yelp and bumped into a computer terminal behind her. "Tentacles. What is it with _green_ viruses and _tentacles_?"

The pillar shifted slightly, bulging out as a face formed on its surface – inhuman and strangely calm in a way that made Maria's core thrum with uneasiness.

 **"Greetings, visitors."**

Maria winced at the voice, which made it feel like the very air itself was vibrating against her armor. If she was still human, every hair she would have had would be standing on end.

 _Is this what writers mean when they say that someone's voice had a lot of power behind it?_

"You're the virus." Zero's eyes narrowed as he looked the face over, clearly not liking what it was that he was seeing.

 **"I, a virus? You must be mistaken. I was made to stop viruses."**

"Well, you're acting like a virus." Zero pointed his saber at the face of the Limited on the pillar. "Where's X?"

"And Axl?" Maria added quickly, leveling a shaky Buster at the pillar.

 **"Calm yourselves. Violence is never the answer."**

The tentacles that had exploded up from below started moving suddenly, curling and uncurling in slight movements as they started to look a little fuzzy.

Maria's eyes widened sharply when she saw the green puffballs that started to rise up from the tentacles. "Oh no, you don't!" She swung the Buster down to the tentacles and fired.

 _FWOOM!_

The blast of bright orange energy caused the puffballs to catch fire mere seconds before they were vaporized completely; the tentacles that had been releasing them followed suit with an unnatural, high-pitched screech that sounded a lot like metal scraping against metal.

Maria winced at the noise as any remaining tentacles pulled themselves back below the metal floor they were standing on. She looked quickly at Joshua and Zero and let out a sigh of relief when she saw that they hadn't been infected by a wayward puffball.

 **"Incredible power for a Reploid who proceeds the great MegaMan X."** The Limited sounded vaguely impressed, which only made Maria shudder. **"I find it interesting that you have not been taken by the Maverick Virus in previous wars, and that you have not made an appearance before now. I infer that you were awakened only recently."**

Maria tried to sound confident, but the laugh she gave in response was shaky. "Y-you really think that? Cause you're way off."

 **"Am I?"** Three tentacles slipped out from below the platform, but these three weren't releasing puffballs – not yet, at least. **"Perhaps. But I find that to be far more logical than the information that I gleamed from the one called MegaMan X."**

Maria stiffened, her eyes widening sharply.

"What did you do to X?!" Zero barked. One of the tentacles tried to get close to him, but his Z-Saber cut off the end, causing green gunk to start leaking out in large, sludgey glops. Zero stepped away before one of them could land on his feet.

 **"Worry not; your fellow Hunter is still functioning. He was quite reluctant to join us, but we eventually managed to convince him."**

Maria's face quickly paled, nearly turning her as white as her gloves. "N-no…"

"You're really gutsy to have done that, you know that?" Zero pointed his Saber at the face on the pillar again. "Because now we're going to take you out, find X, and get out of here before you can get us."

 **"What makes you think that will be the course of events? I am the combined force of hundreds of Reploid minds. You only have your own. What chance do you have?"**

Zero gritted his teeth as the two unmarred tentacles and the one he'd slashed through rose up. Joshua leveled his Buster at the pillar and started charging a shot.

Maria, on the other hand, hadn't moved from where she had her back up against one of the computer terminals, eyes wide as she stared at the face of the Limited virus. Memories flashed in the back of her mind – glowing green eyes and triangles, a blue and yellow "W"-like shape and blank, staring eyes that saw nothing – and a shudder went through her, causing her armor to rattle.

As a result of the resurfacing memories, she didn't notice that one of the tentacles was moving towards her as the other two instantly lashed at Zero and Joshua, keeping the two boys occupied and unable to stop the third from latching itself onto Maria's left leg.

Maria felt the pulsing sensation on her leg mere moments before her vision started to turn green around the edges, shaking her out of her memories as the pulsing moved from her leg and up into her head. It felt soothing – like lapping waves on the shore of the ocean, trying to pull Maria into its slow-moving current….

 _WARNING. WARNING. ASSIMILATION ATTEMPT IN PROGRESS. MORALS, PERSONALITY, AND FREE WILL TO BE LOST IF FOLLOWED THROUGH. PROTOCOL DEFENSES ACTIVATING._

 **Maria's POV**

The alarm going off in my head was the only warning I got before an explosion went off in my head and my vision turned red. I wanted to follow my instincts and grab my head and dig my thumbs into my temples in order to alleviate the pain, but I couldn't move – my joints had all locked up and I wasn't able to even get my fingers to twitch.

The pulsing sensation at the back of my mind started to become more frantic and forceful, which only made my headache get even _worse_.

I gritted my teeth as a hiss slipped out, and an emotion bubbled up in my core. It wasn't the fear that I'd been feeling when I had first laid eyes on the Limited.

It was anger.

 _"Get. Out."_

 _PROTOCOL DEFENSES ACTIVE. HALTING ATTEMPTED ASSIMILATION. VIRUS PURGING IN PROGRESS._

I winced as a stab of pain went off in the back of my head – it felt a _lot_ like someone had just stuck something into the back of my neck and it was trying to worm its way up into my head. I sensed something throwing up a mental barrier almost instantly, and it started pushing the wriggly thing back and out. At the same time, I felt my temperature rise pretty quickly – part of me had to have been set on fire by now, but I wasn't concentrating on looking myself over.

The red light in my eyes flickered for a moment, and then the room started to fade back into focus as the red leaked out to the edge of my vision. The Limited's face on the pillar was still there – still intact – but the tentacles that had been going after Joshua and Zero were pretty well demolished. There were puffballs floating in the air, too, and some of them were trying to attach themselves to our armor.

Joshua and Zero were staring at me with wide eyes that flickered in and out of focus; there were puffballs that were already attaching themselves to their chests and legs.

My eyes narrowed sharply as I pulled in what anger I had, deactivating my Buster as I did so. "You stay away from my family, you stupid plant!"

I released the flames with a roar. "White Flare: 125 percent! _Overheat!"_

 _FWOOM!_

The resulting shockwave of energy and fire caught onto everything in the room – computers, walls, puffballs, and whatever remained of the tentacles and the Limited pillar.

 **"Impossible! No Reploid can reject assimilation!"** The virus' face shifted into an expression that was probably supposed to be shock. **"How is this possible?!"**

I didn't give him an answer; I was concentrating on the power I was letting loose and actually staying up on my feet. The last two times that I let this move loose, I nearly ended up burning my core out and got a lecture from everybody that I shouldn't push myself so much that I end up killing myself.

Then again, I _did_ push myself beyond that on Cybertron last summer, so maybe I was going to be able to handle it this time.

The Limited let out a loud shriek as my flames started to attack the pillar, and its face disappeared from sight as the flames tore into the plant-robot-thing and started to turn it into ashes. The flames quickly jumped to the puffballs on Zero and Joshua, causing the two of them to jolt as their eyes fully came back into focus; no way was the Limited getting these two.

 **"What programming allows you to resist assimilation?!"** the virus shrieked. I couldn't even see its face now, the pillar was so covered in flames.

The worming sensation at the back of my mind felt like it was attempting to get stronger, but then it was suddenly pushed out without much fanfare.

 _VIRUS PURGE COMPLETE. "LIMITED" VIRUS MARKED AS THREAT. FUTURE ATTEMPTS AT ASSIMILATION WILL BE PUIRGED IMMEDIATELY._

I felt my joints unlock, and whatever was left of the red mist at the edge of my vision faded completely.

 _Warning! Energy reaching critical levels!_

I cut my connection to the flames; they flickered and seemed to weaken for a moment before they regained some of their strength and continued to burn through anything that looked remotely plant-like. I stumbled forward, losing strength in my legs as I fell down onto my hands and knees on the floor.

"Haa…haa…." I took in a few deep breaths, still eyeing the green pillar as it shriveled and blackened. The virus had stopped shrieking, but that didn't mean that it wasn't present.

I felt a hand drop onto my back and my gaze moved up sharply.

"Here." Joshua held out a vial half-filled with a glowing blue liquid. "This should help."

I fell back into a sitting position and took the vial and downed its contents. It went down so smoothly and quickly that I could feel some of my energy coming back immediately – not all of it, but some.

"Since when have you taken to carrying Energon around?" I handed the vial back to Joshua, frowning.

"I always have some in case of emergencies." Joshua moved the vial behind his back, then brought his hand back into view, sans vial, and held it out. "Considering how easily you burn through your energy, I've recently taken to carrying more than I need to run at peak capacity."

I grabbed his hand and let him pull me to my feet. "It didn't kill me this time."

 _"This_ time?" Zero looked at me sharply. There was an odd look in his blue-green eyes – the kid of curious frown most people get when they're trying to solve a puzzle and the solution's not coming to them.

I nodded. "Yeah. I've pulled off 125 percent three times now. The last two times I went right into stasis lock."

"You pushed yourself to 150 percent last summer," Joshua pointed out. "I'm surprised that didn't burn you out completely."

I closed my left eye and mentally pulled up an energy bar to see how far I'd gone down. "Well, it looks like I'm at…a little under half as far as how much I've got left. I probably didn't even get under 20 percent left if I was still conscious after this time."

"That shouldn't be possible." Zero frowned. "You can't put in 125 percent of your energy into an attack and still manage to be functional."

"Humans are always talking about giving 110 percent," Joshua pointed out in reply. "Since we are former humans, it makes sense that we would be able to do something similar."

I nodded in agreement, opening my eye again. "I won't be able to use my abilities for a while, though."

Zero huffed. "Considering the damage you did here, you might not have to." He nodded to the room, where flames still flickered on some of the computers and continued to burn through the pillar in the center. Little piles of ash were scattered around on the floor – remains of the puffballs, no doubt – and the tentacles looked like black, sludgy smears against the floor. Then he looked at me again, frowning. "How _did_ you manage to keep the Limited out of your mind? Was it the Protocol?"

I nodded again. "Yup. The Limited getting in would have meant ending a good deal of who I am, and the Protocol didn't like that." I shrugged. "So it fought back."

Zero inclined his head at that; I got the impression he was raising an eyebrow under his helmet. "So that's how it works."

 _Crreeeee—SNAP!_

I jumped as the pillar that had been in the middle of the room suddenly broke and fell through the hole in the floor, taking the blackened tentacles with it.

The sound of it all hitting the ground with a dull _thwump_ below us also had an echo-y after-effect.

"It looks like we've just found a way to travel deeper into this base." Zero leaned over the to look down into the large hole that had been left in the floor. He looked over at me and nodded. "Good work."

I blinked in surprise at that, then ducked my head. "Thanks."

"I _would_ appreciate it if you went back to base and recharged properly."

I looked up at the Hunter again, my eyebrows shooting up when I saw that "I'm trying to figure you out" look mixed with his usual serious expression.

"But considering that you're the only thing standing between us and the Limited, I doubt that you're going to just go back." Zero nodded to the hole in the floor. "You said you had more of that stuff."

"I do, yes." Joshua nodded.

"We should make sure that we're not going to collapse when we go down there and follow after the Limited." Zero deactivated his Z-Saber and attached it to his back. "How many vials of that stuff do you have?"

"Enough." Joshua pulled out three corked vials from behind his back. "I don't know how your systems are going to react to this, however."

Zero took one of the vials from Joshua's hand; I slipped a second one from his fingers. "What makes you say that?"

"This is something that is called Energon in our dimension." Joshua swirled the last vial around while I popped the cork on the one that I'd grabbed. "It's essentially liquid energy."

"Joshua and a few of our buddies mine the stuff for fuel," I added. I downed the vial's contents and licked my lips in case any drops had slipped out, then closed my left eye and watched as my energy bar shot back up to one hundred percent. "I've gotta be careful when I'm near it because it's really explosive."

"Energon, huh?" Zero frowned at the vial, then pulled out the cork and downed its contents swiftly. "And you can mine this stuff in your dimension?"

"Yup." I nodded again, then handed my vial back to Joshua.

"The Cybertronians – our mechanical allies – require it for survival," Joshua explained. "We can survive well enough on human food, but Energon works well enough if we don't have access to a kitchen."

Zero blinked, pausing in the midst of handing the vial back to Joshua. His blue-green eyes suddenly seemed more vibrant – the Energon doing its work, no doubt. Then he shook his head and handed the vial back to Joshua, who promptly hid them in his subspace again. "We can talk about this later – we have a virus to bust." He shot me a look. "And don't you freeze up this time."

I shook my head. "I won't. Now that I know that thing's not going to be getting into my head, I can focus more on offense and less on defense." A grin crossed my face.

"Good." Zero nodded. "Because we're going to need as much of your brand of offense as we can get." He turned to face the hole in the floor, glanced over at the two of us for a moment, then jumped down.

"We'd better follow after him." Joshua moved to the hole, paused, and jumped down without another word.

"Yeah." I nodded to myself, then stepped over to the hole and looked down at the room below, which looked like it was full of supercomputer towers – some of which had been knocked over and damaged. I caught sight of Zero and Joshua standing on a collapsed computer tower, then crouched for only a second before jumping down after them.

 **And the main reason I let Maria have the Protocol in the first place has been revealed! It's a mind control defense system! (So long as it senses that the attempt is going to change Maria somehow, like wiping out her personality, that is.) Makes for quite fun situations and surprises, let me tell you.**

 **Anyway, I'll come back with the next chapter next week!**


	9. MegaMan X part 8

**Hi, guys! I'm posting this a day later than I'd originally planned - sorry about that!**

 **Taeniaea - Thanks!**

 **Anyway...here we go!**

 **Chapter 9 – MMX part 8**

 **Maria's POV**

I used my jets to break my fall a little, but the collapsed computer tower still made a horrific _crunch_ noise when I landed.

I winced and shook out my boots, sending little pieces of metal scattering as I stepped off the tower. "Okay; where to now?"

"We follow that." Zero nodded to something that was in front of him.

I followed his gaze and recoiled as my nose crinkled up in disgust at the slimy, glowing green trail of gunk that was on the floor. "Eugh. I guess the plant analogy for this thing isn't quite working out. I'd peg it more as a sea monster or something now, what with the tentacles and all."

"We can discuss that later." Joshua held up his right hand; sparks rose from his fingers as he reactivated his Buster. "The virus has gained a physical form. We have to find the source of its power and destroy it, or at least find a way to disconnect it from that source and weaken the virus enough to destroy it and free any Reploids its taken under its control in the process."

I nodded in agreement as I activated my own Buster; my fire abilities were going to be down for the count for a while after that blast I'd released in the room above, and if I was going to be of any help, I was going to hold back on using that until we actually ran into the Limited.

"Let's go." Zero started walking alongside the green sludge, pulling out his Z-Saber in the same movement. Joshua and I followed after him.

My gaze wandered a bit as we followed the trail the Limited had left behind. "What do you think this space is supposed to be used for? There are a lot of computers down here…."

"That's not our problem," Zero replied curtly.

"It might be; the Limited's got its base here for a _reason."_

"A reason we don't have time to investigate," Joshua pointed out. "The virus is something that we need to take care of before we can turn to the reason why it was attracted to this place."

I frowned. Something about all the computer towers made me think that there was something important here, but Zero and Joshua were right – the virus was a lot more of a danger. Right now, anyway.

I let my gaze go over the room that we were in, ignoring the large number of computer towers for now. There really wasn't much else in the room besides them – the walls and floor were a sleek black, and what lights there were in the place were flickering constantly, lighting up the area ahead of us and blacking out behind us. Probably someone's idea of saving power, but it just made the area even more creepy than it already was. I was getting a distinct "horror movie" vibe from the place, and I wasn't liking it one bit.

I sensed my firepower trying to come up to give us some extra light, but I pushed it down again; as much as I hated being in the dark, I knew that I was going to need every scrap of power that I had for the fight that was definitely coming.

Something shifted ahead of us in the dark, and the three of us stopped short.

Joshua's Buster flickered with sparks of electricity as it started to charge. I caught sight of his eyes narrowing out of the corner of my own and quirked an eyebrow at him, wondering if I should start charging my Buster.

Joshua turned his head slightly and shook his head. His indigo eyes flickered, looking like their focus drifted for a moment before coming back to looking at me.

 _-Stun Shots only-_

I winced a little when I heard his voice in my head again.

 _-Trust me-_

 _That_ only brought up memories of the two times that Joshua had activated the Protocol on me, but he hadn't done that this time. I was able to think for myself this time, instead of following his lead.

Still, judging from the look in his eyes, he'd just had a vision when I hadn't. So far, besides that warning flicker that I'd had after X had disappeared, I hadn't had any visions. I wondered why it was that Joshua was the only one getting them, but I decided against doing anything that could probably be considered reckless.

I switched my Buster's settings from normal to Stun and gave Joshua a slight nod while Zero moved in front of us, his Z-Saber at the ready in case something decided to try and surprise us.

Then the shifting noise turned into something else.

 _Tap. Tap. Tap._

"Footsteps," I muttered.

"Sounds like metal." Joshua raised his Buster. "But where is it coming from?"

Zero didn't answer, instead turning his head this way and that in order to find where the tapping noise was coming from.

The footsteps stopped. The lights above us flickered, then held as the lights in front of us turned on suddenly.

I saw the blue armor and almost grinned in relief…except for what probably would have looked like a green power pack attached to the figure's chest, with vines wrapped around to his back and up to attach to his helmet.

"Xavier…" I bit my lip when I saw the glazed over look in his green eyes.

X's face didn't so much as twitch when I said his full name. He raised his right arm, Buster already active, and pointed it right at us.

"Move!" Zero leapt to left and disappeared behind a computer tower; Joshua and I scrambled to follow his lead and slipped behind other computer towers moments before X unleashed a charged shot that went screaming down the corridor and out into the darkness around us.

I pressed myself up against the computer tower I was behind and swallowed. The Limited definitely had control over what X was doing right at this moment if _that_ was any indication.

I frantically dug into the back of my mind in order to find something – anything – that might act as a clue that we could use in order to get X back to normal. Maybe something on the Limited itself that we could use to our advantage.

Instantly, something in my mind pulled me towards a memory – one where I was on my laptop, poking around on a site that was fan-made and filled to the brim with knowledge about the MegaMan franchise.

 _"I wish there were more pictures of this thing." I frowned at the small picture of what looked like a head of some kind floating suspended in a sphere. "This doesn't give me enough of an idea of what the stupid thing is…."_

"Maria!"

I shook my head when I heard Joshua's voice, bringing myself out of the memory. I turned my head to see where Joshua's voice as coming from and found myself face-to-face with X and his Buster. Which happened to be charging up for another shot.

"Eep! Fire Shield!"

A wall of flames promptly roared to life between me and X right as he fired; the Charged Shot dispersed harmlessly over my defense with a crackle of energy.

I dropped the shield, back flipped onto my hoverboard, and promptly shot up into the open air above the computer towers.

"Missed me!" I yelled down at X.

X stared up at me blankly, then raised his Buster again. I raised my own and fired a Stun Shot as X charged his own.

X canceled the charge and leapt back.

 _Fzzt!_

The charge from the Stun Shot hit the ground and scattered up the computer towers, causing the lit panels to flicker a bit. X stumbled for a moment in time to the flickering, then righted himself and looked back up at me again.

Well, that was a little odd.

I disengaged my Buster and started to gather some of my fire between my hands, forcing enough of it together into a white-red ball of writhing colors. "White Flare: 25 percent! Fire Spark!"

I threw the attack down at X like a yo-yo, keeping a tight grip on a thin stream of flames in case it didn't connect.

X jumped back again, avoiding my attack his Buster charging up another shot. He started to point it up at me, but he didn't get the chance to fire.

I pulled the Fire Spark back and started swinging it around again just as Zero came out from behind one of the computer towers and rammed into X, sending him off-balance.

"Move it!" I threw the Fire Spark downwards again with a whip-crack of embers and sparks. Zero must've heard me, because he jumped back mere seconds before the attack could have hit both him and X.

"YAAAAA!"

 _Screeeee!_

I winced back, letting go of my fiery string as X let out a loud yell that also sounded like a metallic screech as sparks and flames danced over his armor and the green "battery pack"-thing that was attached to him.

"Maria, get the Limited parasite off him!" Joshua yelled. "That Fire Spark isn't going to do him any good if we don't remove it!"

"Right!" I coated my hands in flames and zoomed down to where X was spazzing; already the sparks and flames were starting to die, so I knew that I needed to move quickly.

I didn't waste any time; as soon as I got to X, I lunged off my hoverboard and grabbed the green thing that was stuck to his chest, sending X crashing to the ground underneath me. "Hey, Limited! Say good-bye to controlling my half-brother!"

The flames on my hands moved to anything that was remotely colored green that wasn't supposed to be a part of X's armor, and the metallic screech suddenly got louder. I winced at the noise – it sounded like one of the giant metal Predacons that were living on Cybertron back home – but I started pulling the green stuff off instead of letting myself get pushed back head-over-heels by the noise.

X's blank eyes flickered for a moment, and then he shut them tightly and gritted his teeth. I took that to mean that he was starting to fight back against the Limited's hold over him and pulled harder as my fire picked up strength and greedily ate away at the tentacle-like vines that were trying to keep a grip on my half-brother.

 _Creeee—SNAP!_

The vines gave way suddenly, sending me tumbling back with the front part of the green added-on armor, flames still licking against the parts of it that were still clinging to X's back and helmet. I threw aside the piece that I'd managed to yank off and sent a Fire Sphere after it before leaping at X again, ready for Round 2 with the Limited junk stuck to him.

I grabbed the vines that were stuck to his helmet this time and pulled them off, fire sparking from my fingertips and burning off the remains of the vine that were still sticking to his helmet and charring the bio-mechanical material.

X shifted, his face gaining more of a grimace as he grunted. His eyes flickered, threatening to open but not quite having the strength to do so yet.

I let out another burst of flames, aiming for the green, glorified "battery pack" that was stuck to X's back.

 _Screeeee!_

X winced and twisted as the thing attached to him suddenly burst into smoke and flames with a screech. "Gggrrgh!"

I scrambled back, grabbing X's left hand and pulling him with me and away from the remains of the mess, which was left on the ground writhing and smoking as it slowly turned into a charred smudge on the ground.

"Oof!" I landed on my rear, X's head over my right shoulder as I stared over his left at the remains of the Limited junk that had been attached to him. I looked between it and X, just in case I'd missed anything. Thankfully, I hadn't.

X groaned again, not quite coherent.

Zero and Joshua were on either side of me in an instant.

"X!" Zero shook X's right shoulder, jostling me a little in the process.

X's head shifted, and I looked over at him as he shifted his head slightly. "…Zero?" He forced his eyes open wearily, revealing that his green eyes were back in focus, instead of the blank stare he'd been giving us a little bit ago.

I let out a sigh of relief as Zero's shoulders visibly relaxed.

X deactivated his Buster and tried to push back against me in order to try and get onto his own two feet, but he just ended up collapsing against me again. "Urrrgh."

I looked over at Joshua. "Do you think you could—"

"At this point, I'm more concerned about how the Limited is going to react, now that we've taken one of its pawns away," Joshua replied. He came over and pulled X off me, pulling X's left arm over his shoulders. "That, and you _did_ hit him with an attack that probably shorted out a number of his systems. Giving him Energon now would more than likely be a bad idea."

X shook his head. "I'm fine."

"Yeah, sure, and my creator's Dr. Cain." Zero snorted. "We're getting you out of here and then we're going after that stupid Limited monster." He shot me a look as I rose to my feet. "And no complaints out of you just because we aren't finishing the thing off right now."

I raised my hands in a placating gesture. "Hey, we got one of them back – all we've gotta do now is find Axl and beat that stupid virus into oblivion." I lowered my hands. "We are gonna have to hurry, though – that thing can spread pretty quickly."

"We can't leave yet." X frowned at Zero. "Not with the virus so close."

My eyebrows shot up. "Say what now?"

"Well, you're not going to be of much help, considering the condition you're in." Zero looked X up and down, frowning disapprovingly. "What makes you think that we can't just leave whenever we want?"

"You're forgetting that the virus has been in my head – or as close to it as it can possibly get. It thought that it had me for good." X nodded to the computer towers. "There's an energy field around this entire complex that prevents transervers from teleporting Reploids out of dangerous situations. Which means that we're essentially trapped here until either the Limited is destroyed or we can take the field down somehow."

Zero snarled something under his breath. "Well, isn't that just great."

"If it was sharing knowledge with you, do you know where Axl is?" Joshua spoke up.

X looked over at Joshua with a serious gaze and nodded. "It's keeping him down here. If we stay still like this for long, he's definitely going to find us. And the Limited, as well. If you don't want to get caught in its trap—"

"Maria's immune to it; I think we'll be fine." Zero nodded in my direction.

X shot me a wide-eyed look. "You're _what?"_

"The Protocol doesn't like it when something tries to take away even a piece of who I am." I shrugged, smirking a little at X's shocked expression. "I kicked it out when it tried to get in, so I can take it out without getting possessed."

"Assimilated," Joshua corrected.

I shrugged. "Same thing."

"Perhaps, but not when we are speaking of the difference between completely losing your mind and having your body be inhabited by another being whether with your consent or not."

"You two seem to be quite comfortable with arguing despite the fact that you're in the middle of my base."

I stiffened in surprise at the sound of the new voice, and I turned sharply in order to see who had come up behind us.

There was Axl in his purple and white armor standing a few feet away from us, with one hand resting on his hip and the other dangling freely. There was a knowing smirk on his face, but his eyes – which were colored a burgundy, oddly enough – were clearly blank and glazed over like X's had been a little while ago.

The odd thing was, though, was that I didn't see any sort of green "battery pack" on him. If that was the case, then how were we going to be able to get him back to his normal self?

I frowned.

X let out a growl. "Ixl!"

"What?" Zero looked at the fellow Hunter. " _Ixl?_ What's that supposed to mean?"

"That's not the real Axl." X's gaze flickered quickly from the Reploid standing in front of us to "It's a copy that the Limited created."

There came a dark laugh from the purple-armored Reploid that didn't quite sound right coming out of Axl's mouth. "A copy? No, no – I'm an _improvement_." He grinned, revealing teeth that looked slightly sharper than normal. "I can do everything that the original could and more. I am him, but stronger."

I frowned and bit my lower lip at "Ixl's" words. I knew that Axl could shape-shift into whatever Reploid he had defeated. If this guy was supposed to be "stronger" than Axl, what did that mean for his powers?

Zero moved to stand next to me, frowning at Ixl. "Where's Axl?"

Ixl didn't look impressed by the glare that Zero was giving him – in fact, he looked more bored than anything else. "You really think that I'm going to tell you where to find my weak predecessor? Why do you even want him?" Ixl made a wide sweeping motion with his arms, a wide grin on his face. He looked like one of those characters who had lost his mind a long time ago and wasn't exactly thinking straight. "We are the new era of Reploids, and you are simply obsolete."

I felt my core flutter a little at that. I heard speeches like this before – characters and villains in cartoons who thought that they were the next generation only to be proved horribly wrong after some big massive fight.

I shifted my stance slightly, and my eyes drifted to where my hoverboard was lying a short distance away for a second before going back to Ixl. I could make a lunge for it, but there was no telling what Ixl would do if I moved from where I was standing. I definitely wasn't planning on losing it – not now. And definitely not to a Reploid who thought he was "better" than the one he was based off.

Zero snorted. "Obsolete? We're not obsolete – the humans haven't even been able to decipher our coding completely yet – and the same probably goes for them, too." He nodded to me and jabbed a thumb back at Joshua. "And considering that Maria here threw off your little 'join us' trick, I think that we still have a few tricks of our own that you aren't able to use."

I didn't know if he was trying to make me feel more confident or if he was trying to throw Ixl and the Limited off, but I still couldn't help but feel a little more confident.

Ixl frowned. "Just because she was able to 'throw off' the Limited doesn't mean that she is going to be of use." He grinned that dark, wide grin of his again. "If anything, she should be eliminated because of her code. Anything that could possibly become a danger to the safety of humans should be eliminated."

I frowned. "Hey – I'll have you know that I _used_ to be human. Just because I don't play along with your little 'mind games' doesn't mean that I'm someone you can just force to kick the bucket! And the last thing that I need right now is someone thinking that they can tell me what to do just because they _think_ they know what's best!"

Ixl's eyes flashed, turning a bright green for a moment before settling back into the blank burgundy. "That does not compute. No human is capable of being transferred into a robotic body."

"Well, _you_ didn't know Dr. Light." I stuck my tongue out.

"This is getting annoying." Zero activated his Z-Saber. "I'm going to give you ten seconds to tell us where Axl is."

"And if I don't answer?" Ixl gave Zero a lazy, amused expression that didn't look right on Axl's face.

"Then I'm going to cut your arms off. Then your legs." Zero's eyes narrowed.

"Even then, I still won't tell. The Limited isn't about to let you get to my predecessor so easily." Ixl grinned widely, and his teeth almost seemed to sharpen themselves. "In fact, it wants you stopped right here and eliminated, and I'm more than happy to oblige!"

Ixl threw his arms out to either side of himself, and his fingers sharpened into claws as something _exploded_ out of his back – large, dark purple wings and an equally dark purple, lizard-like tail that looked like it was made of spikes overlapping into a huge harpoon head right at the tip.

I swallowed as Ixl's eyesballs started glowing a bright, neon purple. "Oh, boy. This isn't going to be easy."

Zero's eyes narrowed. "Joshua, get X to safety. We'll take care of this freak."

"Understood."

I didn't look back at my cousin or my half-brother when Joshua responded. I was more focused on the fact that Ixl had just turned into a half-dragon monster and was more than likely going to cause serious damage to all four of us.

Ixl let out a dark chuckle, revealing that his mouth was glowing the same neon purple that his eyes were. **"I am going to have so much fun tearing all of you apart!"**

 ** _Well._**

 **So we've got an evil double of Axl's and X is incapacitated. This should be fun.**

 **I'll see you all next week!**


	10. MegaMan X part 9

**Hi, guys! I'm back with the next chapter!**

 **Shadescribe - Heh. We'll see how stacked they are this chapter. :)**

 **Here we go!**

 **Chapter 10 – MMX part 9**

"Scrap scrap scrap scrap scrap," Maria said quickly under her breath as she stared at Ixl with wide eyes. She looked between him and her hoverboard, then lunged for the device and slid behind one of the rows of computer towers.

Mere seconds later there was a blast of heat; Maria turned sharply and scrambled to her feet, catching sight of a large column of neon-purple flames that went past her hiding spot. When the flames died, she caught sight of Zero across the way, glaring at Ixl from where he'd taken shelter behind another computer tower.

There came the sound of flapping wings, and Maria looked up sharply. Her eyes widened a moment later, and she stepped back, bumping against the computer tower behind her.

 **"Don't think that you are going to be able to get away from me so easily,"** Ixl hissed down at Maria. A forked tongue flicked over his fangs as purple fire leaked out between his teeth; they fell to the floor and promptly fizzled out, leaving scorch marks behind. **"We are looking forward to absorbing your power and using it for the good of all."**

Maria gulped, but then she shook her head as a frown came over her face. _Come on, you've faced the end of the world before! You shouldn't be so scared of this!_

"You're not getting it! I'm going to make sure of that!" Maria summoned her Buster and jumped onto her hoverboard again. "And you're not getting the others, either!"

Ixl laughed darkly. **"What makes you think that we are going to listen to you, an obsolete Reploid with a glitched program?"**

 _"Glitched?"_ Maria rose up into the air, her hands becoming covered in fire. "That wasn't _my_ fault, ya stupid copy! You can blame Wily for this _entire mess!"_

Maria threw two Fire Spheres at Ixl, but he simply flapped his wings and forced her attack to disperse as he rose even higher. **"Wily? The name is unfamiliar. Who is this 'Wily' you speak of?"**

That caught her by surprise. "What, seriously? You don't know about the guy who the Wily Wars were _named_ for?"

"Maria, concentrate!" Zero barked from below. "You shouldn't be talking with the enemy when he could very well kill us!"

Maria shook her head at Zero's voice. "R-right. Sorry!"

"Just _fight_! See if you can knock him down here so that I can cut his wings off!"

Ixl laughed darkly. **"Do you really think that you have the ability to do so? I am the perfect form of Axl! I have far more power than—"**

 _"Fire Spark!"_

Maria's red-white flames slammed Ixl in the side, catching him by surprise and cutting him off with a squawk. Sparks flew across his wings, making them freeze up and twitch as he lost altitude.

"Yadda yadda yadda." Maria's left fist clenched, flames sparking from her knuckles. "I think Zero's right; we've heard enough out of you."

Ixl bared his teeth in a snarl as he glared up at Maria. He opened his mouth, ready to spew purple flames at the Reploid.

 _Vhwee—shunk!_

Ixl threw back his head and screeched, sending up a column of neon purple flames that Maria skirted around as the Axl copy fell to the ground, one wing and arm falling to the ground ahead of him and turning into a pile of green sludge that bubbled at Zero's feet as he landed near it.

Zero moved to stand at Ixl's head and pointed his saber at his chest, hovering right above where the copy's core probably was. "Where is Axl?"

Maria lowered herself closer to the ground and shifted into a crouch on her hoverboard as she looked down at Ixl as Zero stood over him. She glanced around for a moment and caught sight of a flash of blue and green armor out of the corner of her eye before she looked back at Axl's copy.

Ixl turned his head spat out a green liquid onto the floor before frowning up at Zero. **"You still want him?"**

"Axl has combat experience. And clearly, you don't." Zero's eyes narrowed. "Where is he?"

Ixl let out a coughing laugh. **"If you want him…you will have to defeat _me_. And do not think that I am as weak as this shell you see before you."**

Maria bit her lower lip as Zero's expression darkened.

 **"I was prepared to give you a warrior's death. But not it seems that I will simply have to squash you like a bug!"**

Ixl gave a wide, triumphant grin before his purple-white armor started to gain a greenish tint, starting from his chest and moving outwards. As the green tint gained strength in its color, Ixl's body collapsed in on itself.

Maria drifted back and rose up from her crouch quickly in alarm. "I don't like the looks of this."

Zero moved his saber's glowing blade back from where it had been hovering over Ixl – now a bubbling pile of green sludge. "How did this thing manage to make Reploids like this?"

"I think there are some dimensions where plants can do something like this, so I guess it's taking some hints from other villains or something." Maria scratched her head, frowning. "But, then…does that mean the Limited's somewhere nearby?"

As if Maria had said the magic words, all the lights in the room suddenly came on at once with a bright flash that momentarily blinded the Reploids.

Maria lowered her arm from her face, frowning for a moment before her eyes widened sharply. "Primus above and below…."

"Mrs. Carlsdale would not approve of you swearing, Maria," Joshua called over as he and X came out from their hiding place. "However, in this situation I think it is more than warranted."

One of the large, long walls of the room was covered in sickly green vines that throbbed with their own light; in the center of the wall was a large, horrific head that looked only vaguely human, with something eerily similar to a _brain_ forming the top.

Maria gagged. "Okay, this thing looks even more horrifying than Brainiac did, and _that's_ saying something."

Zero said nothing, clenching his teeth instead. He shifted his stance and tightened his grip on his saber. He looked over at Maria and nodded up towards the monstrous plant-robot ahead of them.

"Are you ready to set that thing ablaze?" Zero sent Maria a serious frown.

Maria swallowed for a moment before nodding. "R-ready as I'll ever be."

"Good. Let's go."

Zero dashed forward suddenly, holding his saber at his side, ready to be used at a moment's notice. Maria followed after him a moment later, standing in a half-crouch on her hoverboard as sparks of embers flew from her shoulders.

"That thing's huge, though! How am I going to get all of this thing without worrying about it putting the fires out?" Maria moved up to keep even pace with Zero as he approached the monster.

"Can't you do that 125 percent move again?"

"I could. But then I could end up falling into stasis lock and nearly killing myself, and I don't plan on getting that lecture a third time from my family."

"I think they'll let it slide this time, all things considered!"

The vines on the wall shifted suddenly as Maria and Zero broke out from the rows of computer towers; five started down towards the two Reploids.

Maria aimed with her Buster at one of the vines that was coming for her. "Freeze Shot!"

The blast of bright blue energy hit the vine, and it crystallized instantly into a patch of ice not too far from the top.

Maria clenched her left fist tightly and promptly flew at the vine, bringing her left arm back and winding up for a punch.

 _Shnkt! Scchhhhrrrrrip!_

The severed part of the vine fell to the ground, the sliced end burning as it flopped around like a fish out of water, green gunk spilling out in all directions. The part of the vine that was still connected to the Limited thrashed back and forth, spewing green gunk over everything it possibly could.

"Fire Shield!" Maria raised her left arm as the fiery construct materialized and sizzled the gunk that was thrown in her direction. Black soot fell to the floor below.

Maria looked at the metal blade on her left arm and grimaced before burning off the green gunk that was bubbling on it. "Eugh. This stuff is gross!"

 _Schrrrp!_

"Concentrate on destroying it and less on that!" Zero barked back, leaping away from the vine that he'd just shredded with his saber. "You can clean yourself up later!"

"R-right!" Maria turned her attention back to the wall of green and ducked as a vine made a swipe at her head. She swung up with a fire-covered blade and slashed deeply into the vine as it continued to move over her head,

The vine bent in two, spraying green gunk in every direction and hitting a couple rows of computer towers that happened to be within range.

Maria burned the gunk off herself with a quick flash of flames and a shudder before she returned her focus to the monster. She scanned the wall for a moment – noting that the Limited's space wasn't actually as big as she thought it might have been at first because the wall it was covering wasn't as long as the other ones that stretched out far behind her and Zero.

"Okay. It's not as big as the whole warehouse." Maria took in a breath and exhaled slowly. "I can do this. I'm probably going to end up out cold again, but if it means taking that thing out, then so be it."

Flames started sparking across Maria's arms as she crossed them in front of herself, retracing her Buster and the blade sticking out of her left arm. The fire started to increase as Maria charged up her energy as much as possible, her eyes narrowing in focus at the face of the Limited virus in the wall.

"Maria, whatever you're doing, finish up quickly!" Zero barked from below.

Maria gritted her teeth as she felt the build-up of energy go up beyond the hundred percent mark. "Here we go! White Flare: 150 Percent! Heat Wave!"

Maria uncrossed her arms in a forceful motion as the flames exploded off her in a shockwave of red-white flames that was flung towards the Limited-covered wall.

 **"Eeeeeyaaaaaa!"** The Limited thrashed as the flames collided with the vines and green metallic material that covered the wall, its face contorting in ways that clearly showed that it was feeling was the flames were doing and it didn't like it very much.

 _Warning! Warning! Energy reaching critical levels!_

The hoverboard wobbled under Maria's feet as it lowered her to the ground; spots were quickly gathering in her eyes as her vision flickered.

As soon as she reached the ground, she stumbled forward and collapsed onto her hands and knees for a moment before her arms gave out.

Seconds before Maria's head hit the floor, her systems activated emergency stasis lock.

 **Change in POV**

Zero hadn't been expecting the fiery lightshow that Maria released, or the screeching yell that the Limited let out as soon as the attack hit – the thing hadn't made so much as a squeak before so the noise came as something of a bit of a surprise.

The fact that Maria collapsed afterwards wasn't a surprise, though – Joshua and Maria had both mentioned something about that, so she was just extremely low on energy for now. They'd get that fixed later.

"Zero! Maria!"

Zero turned his head when he heard X's yell, and he caught sight of the blue Reploid running towards them. The fact that X was running without leaning against Joshua made him wonder if he'd gotten any of that Energon stuff when he wasn't looking.

"Joshua found Axl and—" X cut himself off when he saw Maria lying on the ground, out cold, and he looked up at the wall of burning, screaming metal. "What just—"

"Maria burned herself out hitting that thing with everything she had," Zero replied evenly. "We need to get out of here – I don't think that the Limited's going to be able to hold itself together for much longer if it keeps burning like this."

X looked between the burning wall and Maria for a moment before nodding. He moved over to Maria and pulled her right arm over his shoulder and wrapped his left around her waist in order to keep her upright despite the fact that she wouldn't be able to hold up her own weight on her own. "Come on."

"Right behind you." Zero grabbed Maria's hoverboard and retracted his saber's blade before pulling Maria's other arm over his own shoulders.

The two of them started moving back the way they had come…only for a burning green-turning-black vine to fall into their path.

 **"Don't think…that you will be able to escape from this place…so easily. You are too dangerous….to be allowed….to live any longer than….you have."**

Zero scoffed and turned his head to frown at the burning face of the Limited, which was starting to look like it was covered in soot. "Face the facts – you're the one who's too dangerous. That's why we're here to put you down."

 **"But your one weapon is out for the count. Do…you really believe…that you still have a chance against what…remains?"**

"I think that the damage Maria did is going to be more than enough to finish you off."

Zero kept up his calm façade, but inside he was considering how much time it would take him to unsheathe his saber and start hacking the Limited to pieces. He could see clearly that the fire was having an effect, but there were places where the flames were starting to die and it was more than likely that the Limited was going to start moving soon for a Round 2 like Sigma usually had whenever Zero and X had confronted him in the past.

"We need to do something to make sure it's not going to come back," X muttered. He looked between the flame-covered vine blocking their way and Maria before looking back at Zero. "I'm going to try to copy Maria's ability."

"You think it'll help?" Zero raised an eyebrow.

"Only one way to find out." X tightened his grip on Maria's right arm and his hand pulsed with a white glow for a moment. His green eyes flickered, and he winced.

Zero frowned. "What is it?"

"I can't copy her fire ability for some reason. I was able to copy her Buster settings which are…interesting, but it seems that her fire element is completely out of reach."

"Well, isn't that just great." Zero's frown deepened. "Looks like we're going to have to take care of this the old-fashioned way." He slipped out from under Maria's arm, letting it drop as he unsheathed his saber and gave X Maria's hoverboard. "Get her to safety. I'm going to hold if off until you get back."

X nodded in response, then started to drag Maria behind one of the computer towers that hadn't been knocked over in the course of the fight. Zero turned to face the burning, plant-like mechanical virus and shifted his stance, prepared to fight at a moment's notice.

It was then that he managed to get a better look at the mess that Maria had made of the Limited monster-virus.

While the monster was probably as big as some of the other mechaniloids that Zero had seen in his lifetime, it was pretty clear that it was taking on more damage than most should have been capable of surviving. Maria's attack – 150 percent of her power, which should have been impossible – was definitely doing more damage than just a simple glance back had let him see. Most of the green metal had turned black and charred; parts of it were even falling to the floor with metallic thuds that caused the metallic vines to crack and spill out black ash that used to be the green "gunk" that had been circulating inside.

 _Well, this feels a little anticlimactic._

Still, Zero was ready for whenever the Limited decided to make its move.

The Limited's face shifted; it was clearly having some difficulty with something, but it didn't look like it was about to let on what it was. It wasn't hard to figure out that it was what remained of Maria's attack, which was now burning around the Limited's face and working its way inward.

"You don't look like all that much of a threat now," Zero commented, not relaxing out of his stance. "If anything, I'd have to say that you're not going to be that much of a threat for much longer."

The Limited let out a dry, crackling noise that almost sounded like some kind of laugh. **"Is that what you think? I am a hive mind – I have pieces of myself everywhere. If one part of me fails, another will take my place. You will never be rid of me."**

Zero's eyes narrowed. The Limited's statement sounded eerily familiar, but considering what exactly it was that it was doing, he figured that he shouldn't be all that surprised. Sigma had pulled something like this before; of course another virus was going to pick up on that and follow in his footsteps.

"We've beaten enemies like you before, and we can beat you again," Zero replied. "In case you haven't noticed, Sigma isn't around anymore thanks to us." He pointed his saber at the Limited's face. "If you think that you're going to stick around for just as long, you've got another thing coming."

He lowered his saber and activated his Buster, aimed at the face of the virus monster, and fired.

The blast, when compared to what Maria's attack, didn't really do all that much damage. But all the same, the Limited let out a shriek of pain when it was hit right between the eyes as the flames finally started to overtake its face and burn away anything remotely colorful that remained.

Zero shot his Buster a few more times before he was finally certain that the Limited – at least, the one down here – wasn't going to come back to bother them. Only then did he relax, deactivate his weapons, and go find X and Maria.

He found X standing in front of Maria defensively, the unconscious girl leaning against a computer tower limply, almost as though she could collapse onto the floor at any moment.

"The thing down here's been taken care of; I think we can get out." Zero nodded in the direction of the burning mess on the wall.

X hesitated for a moment, then nodded. "It sounds like we have another Sigma on our hands."

"Yeah. I'm not exactly looking forward to another war so soon after we took care of the last one."

Zero and X pulled Maria up between them and started to drag her across the room.

"So where are Joshua and Axl?" Zero asked.

"Near a transerver that Joshua is attempting to connect back to base," X replied. "Axl is conscious, but not all of his systems are functioning properly right now. Joshua is planning on running a thorough diagnosis as soon as we arrive back on base just to ensure that he hasn't been infected with a dormant version of the virus."

Zero grunted. "That kid's pretty smart for someone who's supposed to be as old as a human teenager. Wonder who had the patience to teach him."

"Well, whoever it was must have had their hands full when he started experimenting."

It didn't take them too long to find the transerver. Joshua had the maintenance panel open and was bent over it, pulling tools out of thin air from behind his back. Axl was sitting with his back against the railing that went around the transerver, watching Joshua work with a curious expression on his face.

At least, until X's, Maria's, and Zero's arrival caused his head to turn in their direction, and a bright grin broke across his face instantly.

"X! Zero! Man, it's good to see you!" Axl exclaimed cheerily as they approached the transerver.

Joshua looked up at Axl's exclamation with a slight smile on his face…at least until he saw Maria's unconscious form. "How much power did she use?"

"150 percent," Zero replied as he and X leaned Maria against the railing next to Axl. "She's been out of it ever since. She took the entire virus out in one hit, though."

Joshua hummed in response. "I see. I'm not entirely surprised that it wasn't able to withstand an attack from her, to be honest. Fire is known to be incredibly destructive – especially when there is a lot of fuel to burn." He pulled out another vial of Energon and tiled Maria's head back slightly, pouring the vial's contents down her throat. "She'll need to spend a few hours recharging before her systems will recognize that she isn't in danger of burning herself out again."

"You mean that fireworks show was all her?" Axl looked at Joshua with wide, disbelieving eyes. "That's some power!"

"And it's something that should be only used in dire circumstances," Joshua replied. "Like a few minutes ago." He hid the vial again and looked into the open panel of the transerver for a moment longer before shutting the panel. "I think we should be able to get a strong enough connection back to base now to be able to use this. We won't know for sure unless they're able to connect with it from their end, however."

"This had better work." Zero tapped into the communications array that the Hunters used, half-wondering if there was anything that was scrambling the signal.

 _::-Zero! Zero, do you read me?::_

Thankfully, there wasn't.

"Loud and clear, Alia. Something was keeping us off the radar for a while."

X gained a startled expression at Zero's statement.

"There's a transerver near us that we want to use to get out of our present location, but it's not hooked into the system," Zero continues. "We've found Axl and X, and Maria's been knocked unconscious from an energy burnout, but we're in one piece otherwise."

 _::What happened when you went off radar?! How did you manage to find X and Axl in the same location?!::_

"We can talk about that when we get back to base," Zero replied evenly. "Can you connect to the transerver or not?"

Alia was silent for a moment. _::You're connected. But we're expecting a full report from you as soon as you get back::_

"That's fine by me."

The transerver started humming as the pad lit up.

Joshua pulled Axl up to his feet and pulled an arm across his shoulders to give the Hunter some support. "All right. Time to head back."

 **Well, the Limited's ending _did_ seem to be anticlimactic, but that's the nature of things. Now they've got another Sigma-like enemy to deal with. Great.**

 **And Maria's burned herself out _again_ using a move that's _beyond_ 100 percent of her energy. Reploids aren't supposed to be able to do that. When they used to be human? Apparently, that's another matter entirely.**

 **I'll see you guys next week when Maria wakes up!**


	11. MegaMan X part 10

**Hi, guys! I'm back with the _last chapter of the first arc._ Considering that I'm going to be a bit busy the next few weeks (school's starting up again! I gotta get ready!), this story will be on a bit of a temporary hiatus. I've got to finish the second arc yet, and I'd like to stay ahead of you guys in that regard.**

 **Shadescribe - Maria is definitely going to be getting stronger. A LOT stronger. How strong, though...well, we'll have to see. ;) And as for the Limited, that was exactly what my idea was! X and Zero just have a new Sigma-style villain to mess with. It should make things most interesting...**

 **Anyway, here's the chapter!**

 **Chapter 11 – MMX part 10**

When Maria came out of stasis lock, the first thing that registered to her was that she was lying rather snuggly in a cylindrically-shaped pod that was facing a white-tiled ceiling.

It took her a moment to realize that she was lying in a recharge pod, and another to realize that she was probably back in the Maverick Hunter base.

Maria pushed the pod open and stumbled out, feeling unsteady on her feet for a moment before she righted herself. She quickly looked around in order to see where she was in the base and if there was anyone nearby who happened to be at least a little bit familiar.

"Oh! You're up!"

Maria turned her head when she heard the familiar-but-unfamiliar, youthful voice, and she caught sight of a Reploid sitting on a steel table wearing black, red, and white armor with brown hair sticking out from under his helmet.

"Joshua was right when he said it'd take you a full day to recover," the Reploid commented. "Man, though, you really gave Hadron a scare when we came back!" He slipped off the table and walked over, holding out a hand. "I'm Axl – the real one. Thanks for helping me get out of that situation back there."

Maria nodded and accepted the handshake. "I'm Maria, but I guess you already know that." She frowned. "You said I was out for a day?"

"Pretty much, yeah. Joshua said that you'd have been back around sooner if he hadn't used up all of that Energon stuff. Where did you find that, by the way? That stuff's got a pretty good kick to it!"

"We have access to it back home." Maria shrugged. "Joshua and I don't really need to use it, but we can in a pinch. We have friends who need it a lot more than we do, though, so most of the Energon we find goes to them." She looked around the room again, noticing that they were in a lab of some kind – and that they were alone. "So…where's everyone else?"

"They're coming. I sent an alert as soon as you pushed the pod open."

As if Axl had said the magic words, the doors suddenly burst open, and Hadron came scrambling in, followed closely by Joshua and X.

"Thank goodness!" Hadron came to a stop mere inches in front of Maria and let out a sigh of relief. "For a moment there, I was worried that you'd burned your core out completely and fused your inner circuitry together!"

Maria blinked at that, raising an eyebrow slowly. "Uh…."

"Essentially, he was worried that you'd killed yourself," Joshua said flatly, causing Maria's eyes to widen in alarm. "Which we both know can't happen because you're built to be able to handle extreme heat, thanks to your own abilities. I doubt that you're going to go in that state, rather than under some other circumstances."

Maria shot Joshua an unnerved look. "That's…not exactly comforting, Joshua."

"It's still the truth regardless." Joshua gave a slight smile. "It is good that you didn't die back there, however. I'm certain that your entire family would have been out for my blood then for not keeping a better eye on you."

"I-if you don't mind me askin', how was it that you managed to unleash so much power that you were able to destroy the Limited's physical form in one blow?" Hadron adjusted his glasses and looked at Maria with a curious expression. "I don't think that I've heard of a Reploid who's been able to handle 150 percent of their total energy usage without burning out completely before even getting a percentage point past 100 percent."

Maria shrugged at the question. "I haven't really thought about it all that much, to be honest. I guess…maybe it's a human thing? I mean, we're always told to give 110 percent when it comes to things like sports and stuff. It could be something like that."

"Except that you're not pushing your muscles; you're pushing your energy core," Joshua pointed out. "That alone is enough to cause a bit of a difference between your case and the average human's." He looked over at Hadron. "In normal cases, Maria's abilities should be near-impossible, considering that she has nearly killed herself multiple times now by pushing past a an average Reploid's limits. I suspect that it might be because of her nature."

"My nature?" Maria raised an eyebrow.

"As a World Jumper." Joshua gave her a pointed look. "You have to be prepared almost constantly for the chance that you could end up in a life-or-death situation, and that translates into powerful attacks that leave your opponents incapacitated – possibly even killed, if it came to that."

Maria winced. "Yeah, I don't plan on killing anybody."

"That's easy to say, but not quite so easy to follow through, I'm afraid," X spoke up.

"Well…I'd like to avoid doing that for as long as possible," Maria replied quickly. She frowned. "So…what's going to happen now? I mean, have we figured out what's going on with the Limited yet or—"

"It's probably going to lay low for a while," Joshua replied. "From what Zero and the rest of us heard, it seems that the Limited may have other nodes elsewhere where its consciousness resides. Finding them is going to prove difficult, especially considering that it is aware of what it is that you're capable of. If anything, it's going to find ways to fireproof itself thoroughly before making another appearance."

"Oh, boy…."

"I think we'll be able to handle it," Axl piped up. "I mean, we're technically immune – kinda, right?"

Maria shot him a look. "What?"

"The Limited essentially acts as a program that assimilates Reploids and brings them into the hive mind it creates," Joshua spoke up again. "If someone is to be 'immune,' they'd have to be able to function under their own power despite the assimilation, and eventually find a way to throw the program off."

"Zero has already proven that he's able to ignore it, so we've gotten his permission to put together a little anti-virus," Hadron explained. He paused. "Oh, and…he mentioned that you two might know something about who his creator is? He's been waiting rather impatiently for you two to tell 'im, you know."

X and Axl looked at Maria and Joshua sharply at that while Maria stiffened a little at Hadron's statement.

"Oh, boy." Maria's voice came out with a slight squeak to it. "That's…." She swallowed.

"What is it?" X frowned. "You do know who it is, don't you?"

"We do," Joshua confirmed. "It's just that…well, we are immensely lucky that Zero is as he is now, and not as his creator more than likely intended him to be."

"What's that supposed to mean?" Axl frowned.

Maria and Joshua exchanged looks, Maria's expression clearly nervous while Joshua's was a calm mask.

"Does this have anything to do with the Eurasia Colony incident?"

The group looked over at X, who was eyeing Maria and Joshua with a cautious, suspicious frown that mixed together into something that resembled uneasy recognition.

"That depends on what exactly it was that happened," Joshua replied. "The events we are aware of have multiple possible outcomes depending on how someone plays the game that is based off those events. Were you able to stop the colony from crashing?"

"Not completely, no." X shook his head. "I went to the wreckage myself in order to find Zero. We…doubted that he'd survived. I was surprised to find that he was alive and in one piece, not to mention the fact that he'd absorbed a large amount of the virus into himself." X paused. "For some reason – and even I'm not entirely sure why – it felt right to have the two of us fight right then and there. We damaged each other severely, but by the time that aid was sent to our location, I was the only one they found. Zero appeared later during the Nightmare Zero Virus incident, somehow fully healed."

"I remember hearing something about that," Axl remarked. "Wasn't there some kind of rumor going around in the Hunter base for a while after that that Zero was…immortal, or something?"

Maria blinked owlishly while Joshua considered X's words for a moment before nodding.

"Those events are directly tied to his creator, yes," Joshua confirmed. "In fact, your reaction – that it felt right that the two of you were to fight – is in direct correlation with that."

"Well, then spit it out already!"

Maria jumped when she heard Zero's voice come from the doorway, where he was standing with his arms folded across his chest and an impatient glare on his face.

"I've been thinking about it ever since we got back," Zero added.

Maria gulped.

Joshua sighed. "All right, we'll tell you. Just…keep an open mind, all of you, all right? I don't think it would be _wise_ to change your view of Zero despite what we're about to tell you."

The group frowned at that.

"The man who created Zero was around at the same time that Dr. Light was, so Zero is technically as old as X is." Joshua glanced over at Maria. "Unfortunately, while that man was brilliant, his sanity degraded in spectacular fashion to the point that it was questionable as to what exactly he was thinking in the end when he created Zero."

Maria swallowed nervously. "He, um…might also have been the cause for all the wars that took place in the pre-Reploid era in the first place."

X, Axl, Hadron, and Zero looked at Maria sharply, and she ducked her head quickly and looked away in order to avoid looking at their faces.

"Yes, there is that as well," Joshua confirmed.

Zero turned his gaze from Maria to Joshua, a disbelieving, shocked spark in his blue-green eyes. "Are you telling me that _my creator is Dr. Wily?"_

"Unfortunately." Joshua gave a curt nod.

"Sweet Sarsaparilla," Hadron paled. "Y-you don't mean that Zero is Wily's _last_ weapon of mass destruction?"

Axl took a couple steps away from Zero while X looked back and forth between Maria, Joshua, and Zero with a confused, startled expression.

"How's that even possible?" Axl asked. "I-I mean, Zero doesn't _act_ like he's crazy, or even like he's gonna destroy the world! Right now, anyway." He zipped behind Maria as soon as Zero looked over in the other Hunter's direction.

"Reploids are designed to be capable of thinking for themselves," Joshua pointed out. "Dr. Light got the idea after he had saved Maria's life, and I believe that Dr. Wily got a similar idea after he kidnapped Maria and forced her under his command."

Maria shuddered abruptly at the memory.

"Wily may have programmed Zero with that free will without realizing it, and therefore that allows Zero to _not_ act like a crazy, bloodthirsty Maverick." Joshua motioned over to Zero, who was frowning deeply.

"That still doesn't explain how he was acting when Sigma found him," X spoke up. "That was right before the Sigma Wars started, as well."

"That was the virus – the original program that Wily had used on Maria – acting on Wily's behalf," Joshua replied.

Maria shuddered again. "Not fun."

"The way you're talkin', yer makin' it sound like we should dig into Zero's code a little bit more because there might be a cure for the Maverick Virus," Hadron commented. "Or is it something similar to what _you've_ got?" He looked over at Maria.

Maria shook her head. "The way the virus reacts to Zero is different from how it reacts to me. It gives him a power boost. I just kick it out."

"And as far as we know, only Zero's systems can handle absorbing any amount of the virus properly, if only because of how Wily designed them," Joshua added.

"I would appreciate it if you talked about me like I was actually _here_ ," Zero snapped, folding his arms across his chest. "So the guy who created me happens to be the guy who made the virus. So what?"

"It could make you a danger, that's what." Hadron sent Zero a look. "And if that's the case—"

"Locking him up for study isn't going to be a good idea."

Hadron turned at Maria's voice, raising an eyebrow. "What?"

Maria squirmed a little under the look he was giving her. "Look, Zero's been able to do just fine so far, right? I mean, he's still on our side and not doing whatever it is that the virus might want him to do. What do you think, Zero? Would you get…antsy, if you were locked up without anything to do?"

Zero nodded without hesitation. "Definitely."

"And that would be a worse situation than how things are right now," Maria continued. "Besides, you're helping, not harming, and there's no real reason to change that, right?"

Zero nodded again.

Hadron threw his arms up in the air. "That's not going to help us any, Maria. I'm tellin' ya, we're gonna have to have another look at Zero's code now just because of that little realization alone! And even if I was gonna tell the higher-ups that Zero should be allowed to come and go freely, they're probably not going to take me seriously considering that he's a _Wilybot_."

"You're forgetting that I've got some of Wily's code in me, too."

The group turned and looked at Maria then with mixed expressions, but she ignored them and kept going.

"So, technically, that makes Zero like a half-brother or cousin or something to me," Maria pointed at her chest with her thumb, standing straighter. "I'm a link between Light's and Wily's work, and I've chosen my own path. I don't see why Zero can't do the same thing. He can think for himself, let him keep doing what he always has been!"

"The knowledge of who Zero's creator was shouldn't change your opinion about him," Joshua added. "Zero is still Zero regardless."

Zero nodded in response.

Hadron was starting to look more frustrated and annoyed with everything that Maria and Joshua were saying. "You two don't know what war is like here. You two have hardly any power here, either, considering that you hail from another dimension. This information can't be kept a secret, either—"

"You forget that the only proof you have right now is our word against the rest of this world's."

Joshua had everyone's attention again.

"The only reason we know is because of the games that we have access to in our dimension; the only ways that you would be able to check are if you manage to find Wily's notes on his work, and considering that Light's notes were corrupted enough that you knew nothing about Maria, I doubt that you're going to be able to find Wily's computer system, either."

"He's got a pretty good point," Axl spoke up.

"A _point_ it may be, but that doesn't stop the fact that this is very important information." Hadron sighed irritably. "Still, you're right – we probably won't find actual proof of this for quite some time yet, considering that we haven't already. And if that's the case, we can more than likely keep it a secret for a little while longer." He paused. "No matter how much this makes me angry for having to keep this secret in the first place."

Maria let out a sigh of relief and as her shoulders relaxed.

"Thank you, Dr. Hadron." Joshua gave the man a nod.

The man waved the comment off, scowling. "Just know that I'm gonna be in deep trouble if they ever find out that I knew and didn't say a single word about it. And don't you go say anything, either!" He wagged a finger at X, Zero, and Axl in turn.

"Like I'm gonna say anything!" Axl yelped from where he still stood behind Maria.

Zero shrugged a shoulder, saying nothing.

"While I don't like what Dr. Wily stood for in the past and stands for in the present, I do appreciate having Zero as an ally," X commented. "And while I trust that humans know what they are doing for the most part, your paranoia can be a bit…unconventional, sometimes. I'll keep this a secret for now; if it comes up in the future, and humans are willing to listen and not lock Zero away, I won't have any qualms about keeping my mouth shut."

Maria gained a surprised expression at X's statement before a smile broke out across her face. "Thanks, guys."

Hadron cleared his throat roughly. "Yes, _well_."

"So, what are we going to do now?" Axl looked around at the group. "I mean, the Limited's still around, so there's no way we're going to get a break from any of this."

"But Maria did deal it a rather damaging blow, so we probably won't be hearing from it for some time," X added. "Like Sigma, it will probably spend some time attempting to amass another army before it makes an appearance again."

"And it'll probably be fire-proof because of what I did," Maria muttered. She sighed irritably. "Sounds like I won't be of much help when it comes back."

"Even if that's the case, you did give us something of an advantage by defeating it yesterday," X pointed out. "I doubt that it's going to be able to attempt something like that for us again, now that our systems know what to look out for and prevent."

"That may be the case, but you should still be careful of it regardless," Joshua pointed out. "Now that it has data on all three of you, it's possible that it will be able to make copies of you, like it did for Axl when we were fighting it before."

Maria stared at her cousin. "You don't mean that…do you?"

"Considering what our internet has as data on the Limited? I consider it to be incredibly likely."

Zero snorted. "Even if it _could_ make a double of me, I doubt it'd be a match for me." He paused. "If you don't think you can do anything else around here, does that mean you're planning on going back to your home dimension or something?"

"Well, I'm considering it." Maria rubbed the back of her head. "I mean, there are other worlds that I have to keep an eye on, too, and I'd like to get over to them before the summer ends back home. I _am_ a World Jumper – this world isn't the only one that I have to keep an eye on."

"And considering that the threat has been neutralized for now and is possibly going to be immune to anything Maria attempts in the future, I doubt that there is much else that we can do here," Joshua added. "Which means that it would more than likely be wise for us if we simply packed up and left now."

"Now?" Hadron repeated. "Do you mean, right here right now?"

"Well, why not?" Maria shrugged.

"Signas is gonna have your head if you do that!" Axl yelped. "And then he'll have _our_ heads!"

"Eh." Zero snorted, looking amused. "The kid's as old as X and I am, and besides, she's not even an official Hunter; she can pop in and pop out whenever she wants."

Maria shot Zero a grin. "Thanks!" She turned to look at Joshua. "You ready to head back now? Or do you want to wait a bit?"

"I'm prepared to head back whenever you are," Joshua replied calmly. "I assume that's going to be now, then?"

"Well, I don't see why not." Maria shrugged. "I mean, the Limited's taken care of and all, so we may as well check in back at home and make sure everything's going okay before I head back out again."

Hadron scrambled to pull the black iPhone-like device out of his lab coat pocket. "You're going to do it right here? How?"

"Easy." Maria shot the man a gin. "I'm a walking portal."

With that, Maria snapped her fingers, and a blue vortex of energy suddenly appeared in the room, causing the Hunters and Hadron to jump back in surprise.

"Whoa!" Axl looked between the portal and Maria. "How did you—"

"I'm a World Jumper." Maria winked. "Itravel between dimensions for a living." She looked over at X, Zero, and Hadron. "It was great to be able to help out here, guys. If anything comes up again, I'd be more than willing to drop by and give you guys some help."

"We'll keep that in mind," X promised with a nod. "Good luck."

Maria smiled and nodded in response, then turned to look at Joshua. She motioned with her head towards the portal, then walked forward and disappeared into its swirling blue depths. Joshua quickly followed after her, and the portal quickly winked out of existence.

 **And that finishes the MegaMan X arc! Next arc, we're not following Maria - we're following her older brother, Matthew! I'll probably post the start of the next arc sometime in September, after I've had some time to adjust to my school schedule and get a little writing done. I'll see you then!**


	12. Home

**Nyaaargh, school is sucking the inspiration out of me with all the work it's making me do...nnnnnngh.**

 **So, I initially promised 10 arcs for this story. Now, I don't think I can really hold that up anymore. So, I decided I'd cut down on things only a little and shift focus around. I had been planning on focusing on ALL of Maria's family and show her siblings World Jumping this summer, too, but I _haven't actually played the games that they get involved in._ So there's a major roadblock.**

 **I came up with a temporary solution, though: this is (mostly) a story about Maria and her travels across dimensions. If I can go back later and write what happened to her siblings when they weren't with her, I'll go ahead and do that as separate stories for them. I'll make a couple exceptions with a couple arcs that I know I'll be able to do without Maria around, but other than that...yeah, I'm not gonna be able to get to some of these.**

 **Which means that I'm not going to be able to write the arc for Matthew that I promised last chapter. Sorry, guys! I'll try to get it written later, but it's just not going to work out right now. :(**

 **I think I'm dropping enough hints as to where they went and what they did, though. Especially since this chapter's going to be A LOT of exposition on the part of Maria's parents.**

 **Thanks to Killerjakee, Ryo551, and justinq719 for the Favs and Follows!**

 **Shadescribe - Yeah, that's pretty much it. It's something that Maria adheres to, too. And sorry I wasn't able to get the Matthew arc written - I'm just not feeling any inspiration for it right now; I'll try to get it written later and posted as its own story when life isn't so hectic and I can actually sit and figure out how the place he's going to is going to work with the changes that I'm adding. Same with Liz, who would have been the next arc. *shrugs* :/**

 **Anyway...this picks up RIGHT after the last chapter, with Maria and Joshua coming home from the MMX-verse! Here we go!**

 **Chapter 12 – Home**

When Maria and Joshua stepped out of the portal and onto the sidewalk in front of Maria's home, they were instantly greeted by an odd sight.

"Matthew?" Maria blinked a couple of times as the portal closed behind her and Joshua, a similar portal closing behind her brother at the same time. "Were you just _World Jumping?_ By yourself?"

"Yeah." Matthew shrugged. "If I can do it, I might as well do something." He frowned. "And don't give me that 'by yourself' line, I'm older than you. I can take care of myself."

Maria ducked her head at that. "S-sorry."

"Nah, it's okay. You've been doing it more often than I have."

"Where did you go that you needed to take your guitar with you?" Joshua nodded to the cobalt and silver-colored electric guitar that was strapped to Matthew's back. "Was it a musical-based world?"

Matthew snorted and shook his head. "Not even close."

The front door of Maria's home flew open suddenly, and Liz ran out onto the porch. _"There_ you guys are! Do you have any idea how long it's taken for you guys to get back?! You've been gone for a week!"

"A week?" Maria blinked, then frowned. "We weren't on Neo-Earth for _that_ long..."

"Certainly felt like it was longer than a week in Hyrule," Matthew commented, scratching his head. He paused. "Oh, shoot! If it's been a week, then my summer job starts tomorrow!" He dashed into the house and past his sister, the guitar banging against his back with each bound he took.

"Did he just say Hyrule?" Maria asked in confusion.

"If he needed to go and help Link, then that world must have had some trouble," Joshua commented. He walked over to the house and followed Matthew inside, Maria quickly moving after him.

Liz grabbed Maria's armored shoulder, stopping the Reploid short. "Mom and Dad have something they want to tell us. We're meeting in the family room."

Maria blinked at that, then nodded. "I'll make sure that Matthew knows. I'll meet you there."

Liz gave Maria a thumbs-up, then slipped into the house. Maria followed after her, then went into the kitchen just as Matthew put his iPhone up to his ear and leaned against the counter next to the stove. Joshua, who was standing near the kitchen table, looked over at Maria before his attention went back to Matthew.

"Hey, Jack, it's Matthew. Sorry I didn't call in earlier - I...went camping and had no cell phone signal for a while. Nah, it was just me; I felt like going solo, you know? I'm all right; don't worry. So, what time do you want me to come in tomorrow? Okay, got it. Thanks; I'll see you tomorrow at nine, then." Matthew hung up and switched to the calendar app. He glanced up when he noticed that Maria was standing in front of him. "Yeah?"

"Mom and Dad are apparently calling a meeting in the living room," Maria explained.

Matthew looked at his sister with a blank expression, then sighed and put his phone in his pocket. "Any idea what it's about?"

Maria shook her head. "I think we might have missed something when we left."

"Yeah, no kidding." Matthew moved away from the counter and started out of the kitchen; Maria and Joshua followed after him. "It better not be anything big; I've had more than enough of that."

"What do you mean? What happened when you were in Hyrule?" Maria raised an eyebrow as they stepped into the living room.

"I got turned into a Lucario and heard about something called a Continuum Shift. Some kind of universal reset button that World Jumpers can hit, and I don't think that hitting it is a good idea."

"Universal _reset_ button?" Joshua's eyebrows rose.

"That's news to me," Maria added.

"That's a last resort that should never be pressed unless you feel up to relearning an entire universe's history all over again," Morgen said as Joshua, Maria, and Matthew sat down on the couch next to Liz and Collin. "Trust me, it's not as fun as it sounds."

"You've used it?" Matthew looked at their father in surprise.

"We haven't," Katie replied from where she stood next to Morgen in front of the TV, "but we've seen what can happen. Scooby-Doo has been hit with multiple Shifts; we eventually just stopped going there because it changed too much for us and we weren't able to help them when they did have trouble."

"That explains all the cartoon reboots," Joshua remarked thoughtfully.

Maria frowned. "But why haven't _I_ heard about this before? Mom, Dad, why haven't you told us about everything that _you've_ done so that we can know a little bit more about what we're doing?"

"That's why we've arranged for this family meeting – present guest included, even if he isn't family by blood," Morgen replied. "We wanted to talk to you kids about a few things before you really jumped into this world-jumping _tour_ you kids seem to be up to."

Maria exchanged looks with Matthew and Joshua.

"We're all ears, Dad," Maria said, looking back at Morgen.

Morgen shifted his stance, standing straighter and putting his hands behind his back, but not standing like a soldier at attention and instead more like a teacher ready to give a lecture without a podium in front of him. Katie shifted into a similar stance, but folded her arms across her chest.

"The one thing that I should address first is that World Jumpers as a whole are walking paradoxes," Morgen said. "They warp space, they travel through time, and can and will confuse people if they mention alternate timelines as though they were talking about what their neighbor happened to be up to last week. As a result, we can run into past World Jumpers and future World Jumpers and not bat an eye or have a universe collapse as a result."

Liz cleared her throat, causing her siblings to look at her as she looked at their parents meaningfully. "Want me to give an example, _Dad?"_

Maria leaned forward and looked around Matthew at Liz with a frown. "And how can you give one? The only two times you've been off-world haven't really involved anything like that, unless you count what Cyrus did on Neo-Mobius."

"She went to another world after you guys left," Collin spoke up. "When she came back, she dragged Mom and Dad into the office and talked with them for an hour."

Maria's eyes widened sharply. "You _what?!_ Where did you go?"

"Final Fantasy VII," Liz replied. "Which was _not_ fun, since I hadn't played the game and didn't know how _violent_ that place is." Her brow furrowed as her mouth twisted into a scowl. "I'm lucky that Dad was able to back me up."

"Dad went with you?" Maria looked at Morgen.

"Not the present me." Morgen gained a smirking expression. "Liz ended up finding me after I'd graduated from college."

"And fell in a pool of liquid spirit gunk," Liz added.

Morgen's smirk fell instantly as Katie looked at him with a raised eyebrow.

"Liquid spirit gunk?" Katie repeated. "You never told me that."

" _Mako,"_ Morgen corrected. "I told you I fell into their energy source, which was called _mako._ I never said what it was specifically _made_ of."

Katir gained an expression of understanding. "Ah. Gotcha."

Matthew shifted, looking uneasy. "Uh…Dad? You know that stuff is deadly, right?"

"Didn't Cloud get dunked in a pool of that stuff and go in a coma?" Maria asked, frowning.

"Yeah." Matthew nodded. "He got too much power injected into his system, and he didn't exactly come out the same after that. Which makes me wonder about Dad…." He looked over at Morgen and raised an eyebrow.

"Another thing about World Jumpers is that, because we bend space and time, we get different side effects. Mine just didn't show up until we got married and had you kids." Morgen nodded to the four sitting on the couch.

Maria blinked slowly at that, absorbing what Morgen had said.

"You mean we've got our powers because you got dunked," Matthew said flatly. "You passed the mako down to us. Didn't you?"

"Got it in one." Morgen shrugged.

"Which I'm glad you came clean to me about that before we got married," Katie said, sending Morgen a side-long glance. "I was nervous about what would happen to our kids, but I am relieved to know that they all turned out fine."

"Even though we're probably the only group of people that's technically X-Men material in this universe and may end up attracting the wrong kind of attention?" Matthew asked.

"You kids have been doing a good job blending in with the other kids who came back from that Pokémon fiasco with powers," Morgen said. "As much as I hate to let you go out on your own without us to keep an eye on you, you've proven that you can handle yourselves. Although, Liz, you should be careful of your temper. You're not Percy Jackson."

Liz ducked her head, scowling. "Yeah, yeah."

Maria looked at Liz from across the couch, eyes widening as her eyebrows rose. "And I've been told _I'm_ reckless."

"You've managed to nearly kill yourself multiple times; Liz seems to have only done it once." Joshua looked at Maria with lidded eyes. "I doubt that you can really compare yourself to her right now."

Maria scowled at that, but said nothing.

"So, what happened?" Matthew looked at Liz with a raised eyebrow. "Did you go through the game's events?"

Liz shook her head. "There was some kind of problem with leftovers from the guys that Cloud beat. I got to pick up a few tricks from them, but it was pretty difficult to keep up with them, especially since I didn't actually _play_ the game. And the only reason I tried to make the hurricane, _Dad,_ was because we were next to a lot of water and all those guys were pretty much walking torches!"

"And it was a good idea," Morgen replied, nodding, "but I don't remember you pushing yourself that far before then."

"Well, if Maria can handle pushing herself over 100 percent for her attacks, I don't see why I can't." Liz shrugged.

"Which brings us to our next point," Katie spoke up. "You got chosen as World Jumpers for a reason." She looked at Matthew, Liz, Joshua, and Maria pointedly as she said this. "The Multiverse isn't going to let you go so easily. You're going to still have to be careful, but things that would kill a normal person strangely won't work on you. They will cause something else to happen, though." She looked over at Maria. "Like what happened with Maria."

Maria fidgeted a little under their stares, turning a little pale as what Katie had just said slowly settled into her mind. "So, you're saying that I didn't _die_ die back there because of some kind of destiny? What's that going to mean for me?"

"And us?" Matthew added.

Morgen shrugged. "Who's to say? The Multiverse is pretty finicky."

"Great," Maria muttered.

"Is there anything else about being a World Jumper that you know of that we should know about?" Joshua asked.

Morgen and Katie exchanged looks at that, then looked back at their small audience with grim expressions.

"We weren't World Jumpers for long, Joshua," Morgen said, "but if there's anything else that I can tell you, it's this: the Continuum Shift isn't something to be taken lightly."

"But all it does is reboot universes…right?" Collin frowned. "That's not so bad, is it?"

"It doesn't just reboot the universe, it changes things about it," Katie replied. "Like how each Scooby-Doo cartoon is different from the last. The people might still be the same, but they're not going to remember you. They won't even think that you're familiar to them. I was good friends with Daphne in the original universe before the Continuum Shifts happened. Now…I'm not so sure."

Maria blinked at that, slowly absorbing what her parents had said. "Okay; got it. But I still don't know _how_ to reboot a universe."

"Hopefully, you'll never figure out how," Morgen replied. "I think that pretty much covers what I've got to say."

"You never got around to explaining the weird shapes I saw in the tunnels between dimensions."

Everyone looked over at Liz with confused expressions.

"Weird shapes?" Maria repeated. "What kind of shapes?"

"You haven't seen them?" Liz stared at her older sister. "I would have thought that you would have. They look like…like the shadows of angels. And they're flying all over the place. I can't really tell what they look like clearly, either."

Maria blinked at that, then frowned. "That…doesn't really sound like anything that I've seen."

"I can't say that I've seen anything like it, either," Joshua said. "Matthew?"

"Uh…maybe?" Matthew scratched his head. "I wasn't really paying all that much attention when I went to Hyrule."

"Well, I can't say that I've seen that kind of thing, either," Morgen said, frowning. "We were teleported right into the action; we didn't get to see those tunnels that you kids are."

"Hm." Maria frowned. "I wonder what's going on. Maybe it has something to do with this…feeling of unease I've been getting."

"Unease?" Katie frowned, concerned.

"Yeah. And I can't even tell where it is that it's coming from, so I have to go through multiple dimensions in order to find out what the problem is, so that it's going to take a while." Maria sighed and leaved back on the sofa, causing it to creak in response to her weight. "So I'm planning on heading out again to another world to see if I can find out what's going on."

"Well, I've got work, so I won't be," Matthew said.

"I shouldn't be, either," Liz added. "I don't _like_ traveling between dimensions. I just want to stay home and grow up like a normal person, not end up nearly dying and getting mind controlled by some freak – no offense, Maria."

Maria frowned as she digested Liz's statement. "Uh…none taken? Yeah, none taken."

"And that's fine. Maybe, though, the next time you feel that tug you should bring someone else with you," Joshua said. "It might help."

"Yeah, _if_ I go to another dimension," Liz said pointedly.

"And I will be," Maria added. She started to get up from her spot on the sofa.

 _Beep! Beep! Beep!_

Maria winced suddenly at the alert in her head and almost slammed her left hand over her ear. "Wildfire? What's up?"

 _::We've got somebody up here who wants to meet you and Joshua, kiddo. Where are you?::_

"We just got back from helping MegaMan X." Maria looked over at Joshua and noticed that he had his left hand up to his ear as well, and was frowning.

"Who wants to meet us?" Joshua asked. Maria heard his voice echo in the back of her mind, as well – Wildfire had obviously contacted them both at the same time.

 _::I'll leave that as a surprise. Just get up here as soon as you can, all right?::_

"Uh…yeah, sure. Okay." Maria blinked in confusion, lowering her hand from her ear as Wildfire cut the connection from her end. "Whelp, I guess that I'm not going to another world just yet."

"I'll fire up the Space Bridge in my lab." Joshua rose to his feet, then looked over at Maria. "Are you coming, then?"

"May as well." Maria shrugged, then rose as well. Her three siblings bounced up as the couch sprang back into place. "Any idea what's going on up there?"

"Other than the fact that a Cybertronian apparently wants to meet us? No. Whoever it is, though, it must have been someone who has Jolt's and Wildfire's respect." Joshua looked over at Morgen and Katie. "Mr. and Mrs. Carlsdale, I don't know how long we'll be gone, but we will still be in this dimension."

"That's fine," Morgen replied. "So long as you kids have at least someone keeping an eye on you so that you don't get into any trouble."

"And don't try to start any fights up there," Katie added. "I'd rather not see another Cybertronian war start in my lifetime."

"Sure thing, Mom." Maria nodded. "We'll be careful."

"Tell Coil I say hi, okay?" Collin added.

"Will do." Maria gave a two-fingered salute to her younger brother and grinned before looking over at Joshua. "Let's roll."

Joshua snorted and rolled his eyes, but he smiled a little all the same. "Yes, let's. I'd rather not keep them waiting for longer than we have to."

"You'll fill us in on what you guys did later, right?" Maria looked back at Matthew and Liz with a raised eyebrow.

"Sure," Matthew replied. He grinned. "You'd better do the same, if you got to hang out with X. I want to hear how that went down."

Maria smirked. "You got it. We'll exchange stories when we get back." She nodded at Joshua again, then stepped out of the living room and started towards the front door, Joshua following after her.

"Final Fantasy VII and Hyrule." Joshua gave a thoughtful hum as they stepped out onto the street and started down the sidewalk towards his house. "Those are popular worlds."

"Yeah." Maria nodded in agreement. "We've been getting a lot of those."

"Which makes me wonder if your feeling of unease could come from a universe that isn't as popular." Joshua tapped his chin. "Maybe one that hasn't even been discovered yet."

"But then which one? There's tons of other places out there that I haven't gotten into watching or reading yet! Just because I've got a Reploid brain doesn't mean that I can just rush through an entire TV series in an hour." Maria frowned. "And I know you're not going to suggest downloading it directly."

"Not off the Internet, no. And it might do something detrimental to your programming if you did attempt it."

Joshua and Maria turned off the sidewalk and made their way through a backyard and into the woods that were a part of their street. A moment later, they came across a cave entrance, which they stepped into and followed one of the branching tunnels down into a white-tiled room that looked like it didn't exactly belong underground.

Joshua picked up a high-tech, white remote with a long antenna from one of the steel tables that he kept in his lab. "Are you ready?"

Maria nodded. "Yeah. Let's go see what's going on up on Cybertron."

Joshua nodded in response then turned his attention to the back wall of the lab, where a large, gray metal ring had been embedded into the wall. He pointed his remote at the device and pressed down on a gray button that looked like some kind of etching of a planet.

The ring reacted instantly, powering up with a loud hum and shooting off green sparks into its center; they quickly expanded into a large green portal with flecks of red and blue hidden in the energy.

"Time to go." Joshua started moving towards the Space Bridge, Maria following right on his heels.

 **Yeah, again. A lot of exposition. Sorry about that, but some of that stuff needed to be said - and it's helping me get back into the swing of things for this particular story. I've been away from it for far too long...**

 **Considering school is back and I've found that I have minimal time to actually be able to sit down and WRITE, my posting schedule's gonna be extremely sporadic for a while. Great. I'll do what I can to post chapters on occasion in order to make sure you guys know that I'm still alive, but I can't guarantee an actual schedule until I get used to how my real-life schedule is going to go. And that could take a couple months, I don't know.**

 **So, I'll...see you guys next time I post, I guess!**


	13. Cybertron: Old Metal Friends

***settles in comfortably* Well, looks like I might be able to put the next chapter up right now. Nice. :)**

 **Shadescribe - Thanks for being understanding! And ouch *winces* Sounds like you've got quite a bit of homework ahead of you. I hope you can stay on top of that!**

 **Anyway, here's the next chapter!**

 **Chapter 13 – Old Metal Friends**

When Maria and Joshua stepped out of the swirling green portal, they were greeted by a sight that surprised them.

"Wow!" Maria's eyes widened as a grin spread across her face. "This place looks _tons_ better than it did last year!"

"It seems that the rebuilding project that the Autobots have been leading has been doing well," Joshua agreed, looking at the giant metal city in front of them. He raised the remote in his hand and turned off the ring behind him, then hid the remote away in his subspace. "Where are Wildfire and Jolt, though? Jolt said that they'd be meeting us here."

"Hm." Maria frowned. "Maybe they got held up?" She looked around at the metallic landscape they'd arrived in, taking in the view of the domed city below and the metal plates that fit in with each other so well that it would be very difficult to attempt and tear the ground up if the need arose. "They might still be in the city somewhere, trying to get out in order to meet up with us."

"Maybe." Joshua nodded. "Which means that it would probably be a good idea if we waited here for them to arrive."

"Yeah, probably." Maria sat down on the top of the metal slope and sighed. "I'd kinda hoped that I'd have been able to relax for at least a _little_ while before I ended up going anywhere. The rest of the day, at least. I guess being a World Jumper means I don't get very much time for breaks between problems."

"At least you're not leaving our dimension yet," Joshua pointed out. He got down into a crouch next to Maria, rolling on the heel of his feet for a moment before regaining his balance. "And if we have a problem here, it's not going to be as large as it was last year."

Maria snorted at that. "Don't jinx it. We don't know what kinds of trouble is going on in the _rest_ of our universe. They could end up sparking another war all over again!"

"Considering how short of a time it's been since the last one, I doubt that they well," Joshua replied dryly. He paused, inclining his head slightly as he frowned. "I've been thinking."

"Aren't you always?" Maria looked back at Joshua with a smirk, which faded when she noticed his expression. "What's up?"

"You and I aren't human. Which means that the Multiverse may be able to use us to keep itself in balance more than Matthew and Liz." Joshua paused. "Which means that living a normal life is going to be essentially impossible."

Maria's eyebrows twitched at that as her mouth straightened into a line. A sigh leaked from her nose. "I kinda figured. We can't grow old, and we can't have kids the usual way. So long as I get an actual break from all of this every once in a while…."

"I don't know if we will," Joshua replied. "You've already proven that you're very important to other worlds by getting involved directly in their important events. If anything comes up in them, and they need your help, then you're going to get called away. And it's not a matter of if – it's a matter of when."

Maria gave her fellow Reploid a deadpan expression. "Why do you think I'm planning on going to all the worlds that I've been to so far this summer? I'm already planning on at least hitting Neo-Mobius before September – ever since X and Y came out, I've been thinking about Team Flare and wondering whether or not they're actually going to follow through on _their_ plans after what happened with Cyrus. If they are, then Lysander's an idiot of the worst degree."

"Maybe you should take Khrista with you then," Joshua suggested. "She saw what Cyrus did first hand; it might be useful if she was along to help convince Lysander – if he is doing what he might – that what Team Flare's deeds may lead to is actually a bad thing."

"Yeah, maybe." Maria nodded slightly in agreement.

There came the sound of a roaring engine from somewhere below them, and Maria and Joshua turned their heads to look down the hill at the approaching vehicle: an Earth-like sports car a red and orange paint job designed to look like flames were sparking across the hood. Fixed right to the front end of the hood was a red symbol that looked similar to a humanoid face of some kind, with rounded edges that made it appear friendly.

Maria practically leapt to her feet, grinning as the car climbed up the hill with ease and came to a stop next to them. "Wildfire! It's been a while!"

"Only a couple months," Joshua remarked as he rose to his own feet. "You did come up here to see how they were doing over spring break."

"It has been a while though," replied the car in front of them. The doors popped open, revealing an interior devoid of any other passengers. A figure almost seemed to flicker into existence in the driver's seat – a young woman with red-gold hair and sparking blue eyes that almost seemed to glow with an inner light of their own. "Hop in, kids. We don't have far to go."

Maria grinned and scrambled into the shotgun position, Joshua taking the back seat. "So, where's this guy who wants to meet us?"

"Or girl," Joshua added as the doors closed.

"He's in the Hall of Records right now," Wildfire replied. She turned around and started down the hill, letting gravity do most of the work and send them shooting off towards the city with its added momentum. "He's been helping Trion go through some of the records, although I think Magnus has been trying to get him to go outside and help with the rebuilding."

"Why?" Maria frowned, looking at the hologram that was sitting in the driver's seat. "Does he know a lot about construction or something?"

"I guess." The hologram shrugged – an action Wildfire herself probably would have made, had she not been the car they were sitting in. "You tend to pick up a lot of things when you're fighting in a war."

Maria and Joshua gained more somber expressions at that.

"So, what have you two been up to?"

"We went and visited Neo-Earth," Joshua replied. "Apparently, spending a few days there equates to an entire week."

"MegaMan, huh?" Wildfire grinned. "How's he doing?"

"Actually, it isn't Rock's world anymore; it's X's," Maria replied. "I…I didn't see Rock anywhere when I was there. Since it's been a good hundred years there since Dr. Light was alive, something tells me that he'd passed on by the time I got there."

"You don't seem to be too unhappy about that." Wildfire entered the city that was below the hill that Maria and Joshua had arrived on, slowing down a little. Giant, robotic figures walked along either side of the street and waved in greeting as she drove past them and the domed buildings that made up the city.

"Well, I didn't really know him for that long." Maria rubbed the back of her head. "And now, if I go back, I'd be helping X and Zero out with whatever problems end up coming up for them, unless time jumps for me again and I end up going into yet another time period with a different group of Reploids. It'd mean that I wouldn't be able to connect with them as well as I have with people on other worlds, though."

"It is what it is." Joshua shrugged. "I doubt that very many World Jumpers out there can actually say that they've connected with people at all. The fact that you can say that you have a large group of Pokémon willing to come to your aid whenever you need it really says something about how different you are from that."

Maria smiled at that. "What can I say? I really left an impression. So, Wildfire, how are things going here?"

"Pretty well, I guess. Rebuilding's going all right, but they've only been able to get Iacon put back together again so far. Bulkhead said he's hoping to get to Praxis next, and there are some of us who are thinking of rebuilding Kaon into something that's actually half-decent." Wildfire snorted. "Personally, I don't think I'm going to be setting foot in that place again."

"Why not?" Maria cocked her head, smile fading a little.

"Too many memories from what it was like before the war. And what happened during it."

Maria sat back in her chair, the smile fading the rest of the way as she and Joshua gained matching grim expressions.

Wildfire came to a stop, and the hologram flickered out of existence as the doors popped open. "We're here."

Maria blinked at the sudden change in topic, then slipped out and looked around at the area that Wildfire had stopped in. "Whoa…I know you guys are huge, but…it's like walking into a giant's kingdom!" She bent back in order to look up at the tall buildings that went up and down the street, all with domes at the top that created a strange frame for the dark sky above them. "When's your sun coming back around, by the way?"

"It'll probably be rising soon," Joshua said as he moved to stand next to Maria. "Maybe in about one of our hours."

The car shifted suddenly to the sound of grinding metal and gears shifting into each other. The hood of the car moved down and fitted snugly as a chest plate of armor; arms came out from under the car as the wheels moved into shoulder joints and hid in the heels. A head rose up at the top of it all, with similar facial features to the human hologram that had been inside the car moments ago.

"Sounds about right," Wildfire commented. She got down into a crouch and held out a hand. "Get on, you two. I'm not about to lose you trying to get into the Hall of Records."

Maria quickly scrambled onto the open hand, Joshua following after her at a more leisurely pace. "How close is it to how it looked during the war? I didn't get to see much of it when Mom and Dad World Jumped here with me and Matthew all those years ago."

"I think it's pretty close." Wildfire rose to her feet – slowly, so as not to jostle the two Reploids on her metal palm. She shrugged a shoulder. "Then again, I didn't really see all that much of it, either. Trion's happy with it, though." The Autobot started up the steps at the base of the large, domed building that she had stopped next to – one painted a deep red and cobalt, reminiscent of another Cybertronian's color scheme. They were nearly through the door when a figure suddenly stepped into their path.

"Now, hang on a nanoklik there, Wildfire." A white mech with a black helmet and a blue visor looked Wildfire up and down, then zeroed in on the two figures that were standing on her hand.

Maria's eyes widened sharply, and she let out a squeak before she slapped her gloved hands over her mouth in order to hide the wide grin that was quickly spreading across her face.

"Who's that ya've got there? One a' them looks kinda familiar." The white-armored mech eyed Maria with a curious expression. "I could'a sworn I've seen that face before…."

Maria danced from one foot to the other as an eager squeal slipped out past her fingers. Then she leapt forward suddenly, using the jets in her feet to launch herself towards the mech. _"Jazz!"_

"Whoa!" The mech – Jazz – suddenly pulled back in surprise as Maria nearly hit him in the visor, then quickly cupped his hands under her, allowing Maria to land, a wide grin on her face. "Definitely familiar. Who are ya, little lady?"

"Maria Carlsdale!" Maria's grin was practically face-splitting.

"What? No way." Jazz's voice was colored with disbelief. "One of those little humans that popped over durin' the war?"

Maria nodded vigorously, still grinning.

"No way. Have you gotten bigger, kiddo?"

"Yup. I'm technically an adult now!" Maria put her hands behind her back and rocked back and forth on her heels. "18 years old."

"Wow. I didn' think that time went so slow fer ya in comparison wit us."

"Actually, Maria and her family traveled back in time when they got here during the war," Wildfire responded. "We probably would have outlived them otherwise."

"Before, yes," Joshua spoke up. "Now, I doubt that for us."

"An' you are?" Jazz leaned over again to get a look at Joshua.

"Joshua Langstrom, a friend of Maria's." Joshua gave a nod in greeting. "I'm also a friend of Jolt's."

"Oh-ho, so you're the kid that he's been talkin' about!" Jazz grinned widely. "Nice ta meet ya! I've been wonderin' where he's been gettin' all his ideas! Yer gonna hafta tell me where ya got all of 'em! _An'_ about Earth."

"Maybe later." Wildfire frowned at Jazz. "I did bring these two up from Earth for a reason."

"Oh?" Jazz cocked his head to one side. "Oh. Wait – he wants ta talk ta _them?_ " He looked down at Maria and Joshua in surprise.

"Flare-Up and Spark played some decently-sized parts in the final push of the war." Wildfire shrugged. "He knew about them, especially since they were up here when we took care of Unicron."

Maria could feel Jazz's hands stiffen under her feet. "Wait. _These_ two are the lil' helpers I've been hearin' about?"

Maria gained a knowing, smirking expression, which Joshua matched. "Yup. We didn't do too much here, though. Bit too small and possibly squishable, you know?"

Joshua snorted. "That didn't stop you from fighting Vehicons head-on or wanting to get involved in the final push against Unicron."

"Like I was going to stay out of the mess when entire worlds were at stake!" Maria snapped in reply.

Joshua sighed and shook his head as Jazz's visor bent into a frown.

"What's happened to ya since I last saw ya?" Jazz asked, frowning at Maria. "I ain't even registerin' ya as human. And where'd ya get the armor?"

Maria looked back up at Jazz and hesitated a little at the question. "U-uh…well..."

"I'll catch you up on what's happened," Wildfire said. "In the meantime, I'd like to get these kids inside before we end up causing a commotion out here and get more attention than we need right now."

"O-Oh! Yeah, sure thing." Jazz stepped to one side, letting Wildfire step into the building and still holding Maria in his hands.

Maria looked around at the main entrance as Jazz bumped a button with his shoulder that closed the front door. "Wow. My memory's still a bit hazy about this place, but it definitely looks different from what it was before. It's definitely better than when I was up here for spring break earlier this year."

"The main floor's different, yeah." Jazz grinned as Maria looked back at him. "The Head Archivist decided ta take a hint from you guys and make this place into a library. The ol' archivin' stuff is all upstairs, but most of it's not bein' used fer monitorin' everythin' that's goin' on. Most of it's bein' used to get the Net set back up and fer plannin' what places are gonna be rebuilt next."

"Impressive." Joshua nodded, then frowned. "Say, Jazz, when did you get to Cybertron?"

"Oh, not too long ago, an' all by my lonesome, so bein' aroun' mechs and femmes is a nice change of pace" Jazz chirped in reply as he started for the stairs. Wildfire started after him. "Iacon was completely rebuilt by then. Prowl looked like he was gonna have a Spark attack when he found out that Bulkhead was gonna be workin' on Praxis next. He's over there now, lookin' things over and tryin' to make things as close to how they used ta be as possible."

"I wonder how badly Prowl would glitch if he knew what Maria's been up to since she last came up here," Wildfire commented dryly.

Maria snorted. "Cop Bot? If he's as bad as Ultra Magnus when it comes to rules, he's probably say that I've broken a number of ones involving physics and chemistry."

"Eh, I dunno." Jazz sounded thoughtful. "If you'd broken rules involving the _law,_ maybe. How'd ya break physics, anyway?"

Maria held up her right hand. "It's nothing really all _that_ spectacular. Apparently, Dad ended up falling into some kind of goo in another dimension and gave us kids superpowers." She snapped her fingers, and a red-gold flame as large as her head suddenly sprang to life on her fingertips.

Jazz yelped. "Vector Prime's timepiece! No wonder they call ya Flare-Up!"

Maria laughed and nodded in agreement, letting the flame dissipate into the air as they reached the next floor of the Hall of Records. "Yup! And I'm still trying to wrap my head around that particular origin story; my sister only just found out about it and didn't give us all the details."

"Seriously?" Wildfire raised an eyebrow. "What did your dad fall in?"

"Mako from _Final Fantasy VII._ Liz ended up traveling there to help him out when he was younger, apparently. And I _really_ want to get that story from them. Matthew got to go to Hyrule, too, so I want to get the full story from him on that." Maria scowled a little. "They got to go to places without me that I haven't been to and it doesn't exactly feel fair."

"We are our own people, Maria," Joshua replied, raising an eyebrow. "We can travel wherever we like. Besides, you haven't been going after Khrista for the worlds that she's been to."

"Because she's clearly said that she doesn't want to talk about it," Maria replied. "At least, where she was when Matthew and I went to that DC world that crossed over with ours. I don't think she's really been to any places since then."

"What are you two talkin' about?" Jazz frowned. "Yer leavin' me behind here."

"The kids picked up their parents' mantle," Wildfire replied dryly. "They've been traveling to alternate dimensions for the last couple of years, and that's what's been breaking physics. They're Planet Hoppers."

"World Jumpers," Maria corrected.

"You _what?!"_

"Planet Hoppers?" repeated a voice – rasping, slightly higher-pitched with surprised. "Interesting. I hadn't thought that you would have ever gone by such a title. There must be more connections between Cybertron and Earth than I was initially led to believe."

Maria stiffened when she heard the voice, and she turned slowly in order to find the source. Joshua turned, as well, raising an eyebrow and inclining his head at the sight of the figure that had spoken.

Standing between two rows of desks with futuristic monitors – from the Reploid's perspective – was a gray mech who appeared to be more boxy than the other Cybertronians that they had seen. Wheels were attached to his legs and in his shoulders. His armor was unmarked – without a mark of a faction or the scratches of battle – but there was a purple stain in the center of his chest that had a vaguely familiar shape.

"M-Megatron?" Maria asked in shock, her eyes widening as she took in the other's appearance, the red optics that held interest instead of bloodlust or anger _._ "Is that _you?"_

"Indeed," Megatron replied. He stepped forward, moving past the desks and stopping short a short distance from them.

"What happened?" Maria frowned. "Weren't you all… _spiky_ before?"

"I think I know what happened," Joshua commented. He tapped his chin thoughtfully. "Jolt mentioned that it was possible for Cybertronians to change their frames and take on different alt modes and appearances, but one of the more recent requests was a tricky one. He was talking about Megatron, probably."

"Got it in one, kiddo," Jazz confirmed. He looked over at Megatron. "So, what'd ya want with these kids?"

Maria started to walk forward on Jazz's hands, paused, then leaped off the tips of his fingers into a forward flip. Her hoverboard disconnected from her back as she went, and she landed on it mid-air before rising back up to the height she had been at a moment ago.

"H-hey!" Jazz quickly moved to catch Maria, then stopped short. "What the—"

Maria looked back at Jazz, then at Wildfire before turning her attention to Megatron, flying closer. "You've already said that you're not going to bring the Decepticons back, and I know that Unicron isn't going to be doing anything unless some idiot finds where his Anti-Spark was hidden and accidentally releases it. So why did you want to talk to us?"

"Something tells me he wanted to talk to Maria more than he wanted to talk to me," Joshua added.

Megatron shook his head. "No; I want to speak with you both. I…would like to ensure that there are no hard feelings between us as a result of what was done on your world."

Maria shifted her position on her hoverboard so that she could sit down. "While I do disapprove of the fact that you thought that violence was the answer, I think we both understand at least in part where you were coming from. The part of the world you were fighting in – North America – was created as a result of a rebellion against a government that we thought was treating us unfairly, just as you were against the governmental system that was in place on your world.

Megatron's eyebrows rose at that.

"I've also read the Covenant and what affect you had here in it," Maria continued, "and again, I get where you're coming from, but your plans for how to make Cybertron better were flawed. Had you managed to work side-by-side with Optimus, the war probably would have never happened."

"Hindsight is always twenty-twenty," Joshua said. "We may be World Jumpers, but we aren't time travelers, unfortunately. All we can do is tell you to learn from your mistakes and move on."

Megatron inclined his head. "You are very wise for children of a short-lived race."

"Being thrust into World Jumping kinda does that." Maria shrugged, a small smile coming and going in a moment.

"Although, apologizing to us would probably do nothing to calm down some other people on Earth," Joshua added. "If Fowler knew that you were here and working with us, he might have a few questions concerning the Autobots' sanity. And he might not find it a _good_ thing, if you compare yourself to the early leaders of our country. Unfortunately, humans can become just as violent and defensive of their beliefs as Cybertronians can – to a certain degree, of course."

"Considering that you have the husk of Unicron at the core of your world, I am not entirely surprised," Megatron replied dryly. He paused. "You have all been spoken rather highly of. Is it true that this is your home…universe?"

Maria nodded, bobbing up and down on her hoverboard a little as a result of the movement. Her face fell a little. "Yeah. It…really surprised Optimus, when we told him that. He didn't glitch, though."

"I would have expected that he would have, knowing the librarian," Megatron commented. His expression darkened a little. "I assume then that you aren't entirely aware of what has been happening up here as of late."

Maria looked back at Joshua, whose eyebrows rose up.

"Are you saying that you're asking us for help with something?" Maria looked back at Megatron.

"Megatron, I don't think they'll be all that much help with this," Wildfire said, frowning. "They're kids, and they're definitely a lot more vulnerable than we are, armor and mechanical parts be damned."

" _Mechanical?!"_ Jazz looked at Maria. "I'd thought ya were human!"

"I was," Maria replied. "Kinda had a bit of an accident on another world. Now I'm more like you guys." She shrugged.

"Uh…" Jazz's visor flickered. " _How?"_

"I'll answer that later. What I want to know is what's going on up here." Maria looked back at Megatron. "What did you say you wanted our help with?"

"Apparently, there have been issues as of late with a number of Shockwave's experiments causing trouble around Kaon," Megatron explained. "I had _hoped_ that they would at least _listen_ to me and stay away as the reconstruction of our home progressed, but news of my apparent disbanding of the Decepticons has made them even _more_ unruly than they had been in the past. There is a faction of Mini-Cons among them who have recently become neutral, but they're still causing some problems."

"Mini-Cons?" Maria tapped her chin, frowning. "I think I was mistaken for one of those once…."

"They're miniature Cybertronians, probably closer to the size of a large adult human," Joshua explained. "So, you want us to find them and do what, exactly?"

"For now, keep them away from the work so that we can actually make Kaon livable." Megatron's voice took on a low growl. "They have been more than enough of a nuisance."

Maria nodded. "Okay; I'll see what I can do."

"Where have they usually been spotted?" Joshua asked.

Megatron gained an odd look on his face.

Wildfire caught on immediately. "Oh no. Not there."

"Not necessarily within the building, but quite close," Megatron confirmed.

"Where?" Maria frowned.

"Near the old gladiatorial pits," Wildfire muttered, frowning. **"If they're Soundwave's, then we're gonna have a problem."**

 **"You know that switching to Cybertronian isn't going to keep us from not knowing what it is you're talking about."** Joshua raised an eyebrow at Wildfire as Megatron looked at him sharply. "So, Soundwave had more than just Lazerbeak?"

"In the beginning, yes," Megatron confirmed. "However, their number _has_ dwindled during the course of the war; I don't know if he decided to leave some of them behind or if they were simply killed."

"Well, if we're going to find them, something tells me we're gonna find out," Maria replied. She looked back at Wildfire. "So, gladiatorial pits. How dangerous are they?"

"Depends on what's happened there since I was last down there," Wildfire muttered in reply. "I didn't take a good look around when we got back. I'll go with you and have a proper look around down there, but you're going to be on your own when it comes to the Mini-Cons. If you need to get out, though, drop me a line."

"Okay; got it." Maria nodded. She rolled her shoulders and exhaled. "Let's go find these guys and figure out what's going on."

 **Well, even the World Jumper's home universe has some issues to take care of. It's not going to be as big as an entire war though, thank goodness.**

 **I'll see you next time!**


	14. Cybertron: Corpses in Copses

**Hi, guys! I'm back with the next chapter! This one's gonna be a bit longer than my normal ones, too!**

 **Shadescribe - Glad you're hanging in there! Also, yes - Soundwave is going to be popping up, but you're gonna have to wait a couple chapters for him to actually made an appearance. If I'm able to post chapters over the next couple weeks, though, that shouldn't take too long!**

 **Anyway, here we go!**

 **Chapter 14 – Corpses in Copses**

 **Maria's POV**

I looked out the window of Wildfire's vehicle mode as we drove out of the Ground Bridge and came out on what looked like was supposed to be a highway. Large holes and dents pockmarked the road – there must've been a battle here at some point – and the ground looked like it was in a state of disrepair.

And, in front of us…

"That's Kaon?" I leaned forward in the seat, looking up at the tall, dark spires that were ahead of us. "Looks like a dark citadel."

"It _was_ infested with Dark Energon for a while," Wildfire muttered. The hologram's eyes narrowed as she leaned over the steering wheel and the car sped up. "I didn't see much of this place after I left early on. Didn't think that I'd really ever come back, either."

"You really didn't mention it when I came up to see Iacon's rebuilding over spring break," I commented, sitting back as we entered the city. Wildfire's vehicle mode bounced against the ground, which jutted up in random directions and made her slow down in order to avoid debris. "Did the war ever get to Kaon?"

"Not like this. The morons Shockwave left behind have been causing trouble and ripping up everything; I think Bulkhead might have had the crew that was working here a little bit ago pull out so they didn't get hurt."

"Then are you sure it's a good idea for you to be here alone?" Joshua spoke up from the back of the vehicle.

"I know these streets like the back of my servo," Wildfire scoffed in reply. "And besides, those bozos aren't going to do anything right now – the sun's coming up; they only tend to come out at night."

I looked out the window again and caught sight of light streaming in through the dark, almost obsidian black metal towers that rose up around us. "Are we really that close to Iacon?"

"Well, they're on the same half of the planet, but it does take a few cycles to get here when just plain driving." Wildfire muttered something else under her breath – something about half a day when forced to slow down for the sake of a tank. "Normal mechs and femmes didn't exactly have access to Ground Bridges before the war; they're probably going to be around a lot more now, though."

"That's good." Joshua nodded in approval. "It'll save time."

Wildfire grunted in reply. "Yeah."

None of us really talked much as we got deeper into Kaon. I spotted some places that were still mostly untouched, including city streets and a couple places where Megatron had put up statues of himself – probably not too long after the war started.

Thinking about Megatron got my mind wandering back to the mech himself, and how he'd looked and acted in the Hall of Records when Joshua and I got there. I couldn't help but feel like he still carried himself in the way that he did when I caught sight of him on Earth, but there was something else there, too.

Problem was, I couldn't quite put a finger on _what_ it was that had changed about Megatron besides his appearance and the fact that he'd actually asked _us_ – members of a race that he hadn't really seemed to care about before – for help. My only guess was that having the Cybertronian god of destruction and chaos in his head last year must have tightened a few bolts that had gotten knocked loose or something.

Wildfire came to a sudden stop. "We're here, you two."

I shook myself out of my thoughts and slipped out of Wildfire's vehicle mode, my metallic feet hitting the metal ground with a _clang_ that sounded unnaturally loud. Kaon was…quiet. Maybe too quiet.

And that made me uneasy.

"There isn't anyone who's actually managed to move into the city yet and stay, is there?" Joshua asked as he stepped out of Wildfire's vehicle mode.

"Nope. Not unless you count Shockwave's nocturnal experiments." Wildfire shifted into her more humanoid form as I looked around at where she'd stopped: there were tall, misshapen skyscrapers around us that I couldn't really see the tops of, and we were right in front of a large set of doors on one building that looked like they'd been forced open, if the dents in the metal that looked like where fingers had gripped were any indication.

"Really didn't think I'd be coming back here so soon after finding Megatron," Wildfire muttered. "The Mini-Cons should be around here somewhere. Watch your step; Jazz and I made sure there weren't any more Dark Energon crystals growing around here, but that doesn't mean there aren't other things waiting around here."

I blinked at that. "Dark Energon crystals?"

"Megatron did poison the core with Dark Energon during the war," Joshua commented. "It would make sense that that would have…side effects."

"Oh." I nodded. "Okay then. That makes sense. So, what – we go in there and try and find the Mini-Cons?" I nodded to the open doors.

"If you're going in there, I'm staying with you," Wildfire replied. "There may be no Cybertronians around, but that doesn't mean that this place isn't dangerous. I know my way around from before the war – stick with me, and we'll be fine." She started towards the torn-open doors with her head held high, Joshua and I following after her at a swift jog. In moments, we were past the doors and inside the dark, quiet building, Wildfire's loud footsteps and our quiet, fast ones echoing throughout the room.

"Abandoned buildings like this are creepy," I muttered.

"Says the girl who went into every haunted house from Kanto to Unova," Wildfire responded with a snort.

"Because there were Pokémon in them! This place is completely abandoned!" I motioned to the large, metal room that we had entered, the hallways branching off, the warped and twisted metal that was lying around that looked like misused and disused weapons… "And it looks like a metalworking shop that fell apart from the inside. What happened in here?"

"I don't know, but it definitely looks like—"

 _SCREEECH!_

The loud noise caused the three of us to stop short and wince.

"WHOO-HOO!"

"…trouble," Wildfire finished with a grumble.

Joshua and I turned at the sound of the whoop, systems almost instantly going on the alert as we tried to find where the source of the noise was coming from.

"LOOK OUT BELOW, BIGGIE!"

I looked up sharply just as what looked like a miniature blue and orange race car shot itself – no, _himself_ \- off a twisted piece of metal and practically came flying down towards us, transforming into a Cybertronian's humanoid form as he went.

Wildfire held out a hand and caught him before he could collide with her chest. My eyes widened when I saw that her fingers actually barely made their way all around his middle. "Thrill Check, how long have you been up there?"

"Not long," the little Cybertronian practically chirped in reply. "You mind putting me down? I wanna do that again!"

"Not if I'm not standing here and you could get your brains blown out against the wall," Wildfire replied shortly. "You may be Cybertronian, but you're armor isn't as thick as mine."

"The better to be small, slick, and quick!" Thrill Check wriggled out of Wildfire's grip like an eel and leapt off her hand as she moved to grab him, and he landed on the ground next to me with a loud _clang_ that made the ground shake a little.

"Whoa!" I scrambled back into a defensive stance, looking up at Thrill Check as he turned and looked at me. He may have been a _Mini-_ Con, but that didn't mean he was as small as I was in comparison to Wildfire. He must've been six and a half feet tall at least!

Thrill Check's yellow eyes blinked in curiosity when he caught sight of me, and a grin spread across his face. "Well, hey there! I haven't seen a Cybertronian like you before! What are you doing here with tall, fiery and short-tempered?" He jabbed a thumb in Wildfire's direction, and she scowled down at him in response.

"Uh…she's kinda like an older sister to me," I replied carefully. "I'm Flare-Up."

Thrill Check's eyes widened at that. "What, seriously? I thought you'd be bigger."

I frowned at that and stood a little straighter. "Judge me by my size, do you?" Sparks of fire flickered on my shoulders for a moment, causing the Mini-Con's eyes to widen even further. I smirked at his reaction. "Big things can come in small packages. Humans can be known to remember and forget that sometimes."

"Depending on whether or not we're facing against giants," Joshua added as he came over. "I'm Spark, Jolt's partner in the lab."

"Another shortie!" Thrill Check laughed. "And I thought we were the smallest things in the universe!"

"Nope." I grinned. "And there are creatures even smaller than us!"

"Wha – seriously? How small?"

"Small enough that they have to be seen with special kinds of lenses and machines called microscopes," Joshua replied. "They can't be seen with the naked eye."

"Whoa…. That's wicked."

Wildfire snorted. "Science. Ugh."

Thrill Check looked up. "Yeah, the gladiator can't do science!" He hunched over and let his arms dangle, then jumped around with a frowning expression. "Ugh. Me fight. Me punch. Me kill."

Wildfire snatched Thrill Check up again and held him close to her face. "Do you want me to offline you, pest?"

"Wildfire!" I frowned up at her.

"It might not be a good idea for you to do that," Joshua added.

"Yeah, Wildfire," Thrill Check grinned and stuck his tongue out – a silver, flexible bit of metal that looked like it was made of a bunch of interlocking parts.

Wildfire's eyes narrowed.

"It wouldn't be a good idea if you antagonized her, though," I added. "I mean, Wildfire can get to be pretty mad if you push her too much."

Thrill Check looked down at me, frowning. "How do you know that? You been on the receiving end?"

"No." I folded my arms across my chest. "I've heard about Decepticons who have gotten the receiving end of it."

Thrill Check blinked at that, then looked over at Wildfire, who grinned wickedly at him. "Uh…oh."

Wildfire put Thrill Check down on the ground again. "Where are your buddies, then? You usually don't travel alone around here."

Thrill Check moved away from Wildfire's feet, looking unnerved. He scowled up at her. "Why do you want to know, anyway? Biggies like you aren't interested in us."

"We are when you start causing trouble when we're trying to put this place back together," Wildfire replied. "It's either you doing the day, or Shockwave's runaway experiments at night, and we haven't had any luck with figuring out how to stop either one of you."

"Back togeth—oh! You could have just _said_ that you weren't with the Reforged!" Thrill Check slapped himself in the forehead. "Duh! We would have left you alone then, you silly biggie!"

Wildfire frowned. "I'm not so sure about that…."

"Reforged?" I turned the focus away from Wildfire and more on what Thrill Check had just said. "That's what they're calling themselves? Like they've been…remade?"

"Probably." Thrill Check shrugged. "I don't really think about stuff like that very much. I just like being able to mess with the stuff they put up! Let's see what they think when they're stuff doesn't go like they think it's supposed to for once!" He threw back his head and let out a bark of laughter.

"I'm getting the feeling that you guys just don't like large Cybertronians in general," I commented worriedly. "Does that mean that you're…not at all interested in getting involved in rebuilding the planet?"

Thrill Check looked at me sharply, his smile fading into a frown. "Look, I want to help put this pile of bolts back together just as much as the next mech, don't get me wrong. It's just that the biggies liked using us like tools, and none of us want to go back to that. One day it's screwing in bolts in tight places, the next it's spying on some guy you don't like and blowing up amusement park rides." His expression darkened. "I lost good friends to that fiasco in Six Lasers. So yeah, I'm not too fond of the biggies. You won't be either, when they start using you." He nodded to Joshua and I. "And if you're as smart and as powerful as you say you are, you'd do the right thing and stay out of their business."

I frowned at that, my mouth shifting a little into a straight line. "Wildfire'd never do that, and besides, I've already got something that's keeping me busy. There's no way that the Cybertronians would be able to get in the way of that."

"And there is the chance that they might end up getting dragged along," Joshua added.

"I've already gone on more than enough adventures with you, and I don't think that I'd be able to now," Wildfire grunted. "Rebuilding Cybertron is going to be more than enough trouble, what with everything that's been going on here right now."

"Yeah, that's true." I nodded in agreement. "Hopefully, things will smooth out soon. I'd like to come up here and not have to worry about something going on that's disrupting getting everything rebuilt."

"What in the Pit are you talking about?" Thrill Check raised an eyebrow – or, what could be _counted_ as an eyebrow among Cybertronians.

I opened my mouth to respond, but then a loud noise from somewhere deeper inside the former coliseum.

 _CRUNCH._

Thrill Check stiffened at the noise as Wildfire instantly shifted into a defensive battle stance, bringing out one of her built-in cannon-like blasters and aiming it in the direction that the noise came from.

"We're not alone in here," Wildfire muttered, her eyes narrowing. "You three – get out of here. Whatever this thing is, something tells me it's bigger than you three might be able to handle."

 _CRUNCH._

"If you think that, then it's bigger than you, too!" Thrill Check responded quickly.

I turned and looked at the Mini-Con in surprise. "You know what that noise is?"

"Yup! And it's one of the nastiest Reforged grunts that I've ever laid my optics on! I'm getting out of here!" Thrill Check leapt into the air and transformed into his race car mode, then zipped across the floor of the area and out of sight with a screech of his tires.

"If there are any Autobots in the area who can pick up my signal, I could use some help in Kaon," Wildfire spoke aloud suddenly. "One of the Reforged is awake in the middle of the day, and it sounds like this one is too dangerous to let it wander around. I haven't run into it yet, but I'm going to do what I can to keep it from causing too much more damage to the city. A little help restraining the monster would be useful!"

I heard a crackle of static in my ears as the sound of crunching metal became even louder, and the ground shook beneath our feet. _::I read you loud and clear, Inferno. I'm on my way with backup::_

Wildfire grunted. "You'd better hurry, because I think this guy could rival Grimlock in size."

"Who?" I asked in confusion.

"No one important right now." Wildfire shifted her stance again. "Get behind me, kids. This is gonna get messy."

Joshua and I didn't argue; we scrambled back behind Wildfire and moved back a good distance, diving behind what looked like the remains of some kind of cannon as a large, purple and black Cybertronian entered the room from one of the adjoining hallways.

If the mech had been human, he would have been horribly pumped on steroids: he looked so unbalanced in the upper half of his body that he probably would have toppled over if his feet didn't look so disproportionally large. There was a Decepticon symbol on his chest, but it looked like it had been slashed through – maybe a Con who'd been left behind during the war and ended up joining the ranks of these "Reforged" Thrill Check had mentioned. His face, though, freaked me out the most: while he did technically have a jaw and a mouth, most of his head was taken up by a large, glowing red optic with a cracked lens.

"Shockwave?" I asked with a slight squeak.

"No…Lugnut?" Wildfire sounded shocked.

My eyebrows rose at that. "Wildfire, you know this guy?"

"Knew." Wildfire shifted her stance as the Cybertronian – Lugnut – came to a halt directly across from Wildfire. "I knew him."

Joshua and I exchanged looks at that.

"Sounds like she might have considered him at least somewhat of a friend before the war started," Joshua commented.

"Maybe." I looked back at the hulking brute, who hadn't moved from where he was standing yet.

Lugnut unhinged his jaw with a slight shake of his head. "ROOOAAAAAAA!"

I squeaked as the ground under my feet shook and rattled in response to the noise, ducking behind the blaster a little more as Wildfire winced, but stood firm.

"You've definitely lost your head," Wildfire muttered. She raised her cannon-like blaster and fired.

The resulting blast of fiery red energy hit Lugnut right on his ruined Decepticon mark, but it didn't look like it did anything to hurt him.

"Strong defense," Wildfire and I muttered at once. "Great."

"He has to have a weak point," Joshua remarked thoughtfully as Wildfire started charging up her cannon again.

"I'd say go for the legs," I responded. "The armor around his knees doesn't look all that strong from here."

"They could be coated in a new alloy that's stronger than the average Cybertronian's armor," Joshua replied.

"Only one way to find out, though," I pointed out.

Lugnut bellowed again, then lifted a leg and started moving forward at a slow pace – all the metal on his upper half must've made it hard for him to move quickly.

Wildfire released another blast, this time aiming for the knees – she must've been listening to Joshua and me at least a little, or she came to the conclusion herself.

 _Brrzt!_

Sparks traveled up Lugnut's leg for a moment as the blast hit, and he stopped short for a moment and let the sparks disappear before he lifted his leg again and kept moving as though nothing had happened.

"Tch." Wildfire disengaged her Buster and threw her arms out to her sides. Two large swords extended from her wrists, just above her hands, which she clenched into fists. "Energy field. I'd heard Shockwave was experimenting with that during the war – must've short-circuited his brain."

With that said – probably for our benefit – Wildfire dashed forward suddenly, moving around the wreckage of broken weapons and headed straight for Lugnut even as he continued to move forward slowly. She ducked under an arm that came forward for a punch and slashed at his legs with a snarl.

 _Shhhrring!_

Joshua and I winced at the noise as Wildfire moved back quickly and away from Lugnut as he tried to slam a fist down on her head. Then she circled around and slashed at his legs again, moving quickly in and out in order to avoid his fists.

"His legs are probably well-armored," Joshua noted, frowning. "Wildfire's going to take a while in order to cut the cables down there, and who knows what Lugnut is able to do at the moment."

"Well, all he looks like right now is a giant wall," I commented, frowning. "I don't like the look of his upper half, though. Depending on what's up there, he could have a bunch of weapons that could blow anyone off their feet."

"Maria…." Joshua's voice took on a warning tone. "Do you know how much of a chance that what you're saying is actually going to happen and catch Wildfire off-guard?"

"Uh…." I swallowed as Wildfire went in for another swipe at Lugnut's legs and retreated back a longer distance than she had been before. "Pretty high?"

"ROOOOAAAAAA!" Lugnut threw his arms back – no, _shifted_ his arms back behind him as his chest plates opened, revealing what looked like a large number of missiles embedded in his chest.

"Slag!" Wildfire cursed. She lunged to the side behind a large slab of metal that looked like it had been torn up from the floor at an odd angle, practically becoming a red and orange blur.

Lugnut jolted suddenly, and there came a blast of smoke and a high-pitched squeal of noise as one of the missiles came flying out of his chest and honed in on Wildfire's position. A blast of flames came up from her hiding place in retaliation—

 _FWOOM!_

\- and Wildfire suddenly zipped out from her hiding place under the cover of the explosion and dove behind another large slab of metal.

"He doesn't have a Spark," Joshua noted. "Hm."

I looked at him sharply. "What do you mean?"

"According to Cybertronian biology – or, their equivalent of it, since they aren't organics—"

 _FWOOM!_

"—their Sparks, souls, life sources, however you like to call them, is usually stored in the center of their chests." Joshua gave me a pointed look. "Like where your core happens to be, for example."

I blinked a couple times at that as another explosion went off. "That's…ominous. Does that mean that thing's a walking _corpse?!"_

"This thing better not be running on Dark Energon or so help me Primus I am going to have _words_ with the next Reforged I find on the ends of my swords!" Wildfire yelled from across the room.

"ROAAAAA!"

 _BOOM! FWOOM!_

"Oh stuff it, you two-ton walking bomb!"

I couldn't just sit there and let Wildfire continue to move from shelter to shelter, taking missile fire from this walking corpse. I started to move from our hiding place, summoning my Buster as I did.

Joshua grabbed my left arm. "If you go out there, you will be killed. Stepped on or shot at, it's more likely that you're going to find yourself offlined than if you stay put."

I winced at that, not really wanting to even consider the idea.

"Maria, think with your head and not with your core." Joshua's voice started to take on a warning tone. "I know it's been easy for you to charge into things, but you have to remember that you can be killed. This isn't a game."

I moved back into the half-crouching position that I'd taken up before next to Joshua, my cousin still holding onto my arm in case I bolted. I probably wasn't going to, though. Vague memories of what had happened before I'd been turned into a Reploid were slipping in and out of focus – what happened right before I woke up in Light's lab specifically. "Then what can we do?"

"Right now, nothing. I've been trying to consider ways that we can shoot it without getting its attention, but I don't know how sensitive its peripheral senses are. We'll just have to hope that the backup Wildfire sent for comes in soon."

I huffed, but I didn't move as Wildfire continued dodging explosions left and right, throwing fireballs at the-thing-that-used-to-be-Lugnut in order to try and catch some of the missiles early before they could detonate too close to her.

 _FWOOM! BOOM! BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!_

"ROAAAAAAA!" The giant mech thrashed around wildly in the cloud of smoke that had erupted with the explosions, almost as though he was trying to put out the fires that had erupted in his chest, spinning slowly on one foot like some suped-up ballerina trying to balance on a spinning pottery wheel.

"Well, _that_ did something." I grinned, peering up over the twisted piece of metal we were hiding behind. "Go, Wildfire!"

"What are you two doing, staying out in the open?!"

I turned my head to look behind us and blinked when I saw Thrill Check sitting in his car mode a short distance back from us.

"Anything that moves or breathes is going to get their attention!" the Mini-Con hissed at us. "Come on – I know a safe place to hide where—"

"I'm not leaving Wildfire behind," I cut him off. "Besides, I'm pretty sure this is somewhere up near fighting demigods when it comes to the stuff I've faced. We'll be fine."

Thrill Check spluttered at that. "D-demigods?! Just what kind of alien are you?!"

"The World-Jumping kind."

There came a crackle of static over the comm system. _::Inferno, we're moving into the former colosseum::_

"About time," Wildfire shot back. "This thing's gonna go haywire any minute."

 _::Duly noted::_

"Just get your aft in here before I'm forced to run out there and drag you in myself!"

There came the sound of loud, normal Cybertronian-sized footsteps behind us, and I turned my head in order to see who was coming in. My eyes widened instantly as a grin crossed my face when I saw the three figures who had arrived.

The mech in red whistled, his eyes practically sparking as a wide grin crossed his face. "Man, that's a real piece of work!"

"Looks like he's been gutted," noted the black and white mech with a frown. The door-like wings on his back twitched. "We're going to have to move quickly if we're going to restrain him."

"Restrain nothing!" Wildfire barked back as she dodged another explosion. "This thing's got no spark! Now get over here and help me turn this thing to slag before it takes my head off!"

"Now that's something I can get behind!" The red mech leapt forward, his grin becoming even wider – if that was even possible – and grabbed onto Lugnut from behind and scrambled up to wrap his arms around the giant purple former-living-Cybertronian's neck. "Literally! Sunny, help me out here!"

The other mech who had yet to speak – and also had his armor colored a burning yellow – stiffened as his expression contorted into one of annoyance at the red mech's yell. "I thought I told you not to call me that!" He lunged for Lugnut and slammed into the backs of his legs, causing the larger mech to jolt back and nearly cause the red mech to be sent flying.

"Sideswipe, Sunstreaker, stop your bickering for a moment!" Wildfire snapped.

"Yes, ma'am!" the two mechs responded quickly.

I smirked a little at the twin Cybertronians, remembering how they'd been around when I had come up for spring break during the school year. Sunstreaker had been fussing about my armor's color style for a couple hours, while Sideswipe really, really wanted to see what could happen if I helped him set off a couple fireworks indoors.

Needless to say Prowl and Wildfire weren't very pleased with us when they went off in Sideswipe's apartment and flew into the one next door.

 _BOOM! CRASH!_

I shook my head quickly, coming out of my memories as Lugnut went falling to the ground onto his back, the open part of his chest releasing a large cloud of smoke.

"Ha ha! Yeah!" Sideswipe jumped back, grinning widely and sending a fist up into the air in triumph. "We got him!"

"And now I've got soot all over my armor!" Sunstreaker complained, brushing at the black streaks that went across his armor. "Wildfire, be more careful with your ability next time!"

"You can't tell me what to do," Wildfire responded with a short huff. She looked over at Prowl. "Why didn't you join in? We could have used your help."

"I would have only gotten in the way," Prowl replied. "You three work in sync quite well."

Wildfire huffed in response, folding her arms across her chest. "Well, thanks for coming to help. I wasn't about to let Maria and Joshua jump in and get themselves squished."

"Maria had been considering it," Joshua called over as he moved out from behind our hiding place.

"Like I was just going to stand by when you needed help," I responded as I followed after him. "But getting squished isn't a very good idea."

"It sure as the Pit isn't," Sideswipe replied. He blinked. "Hey, is that a Mini-Con with you? Man, you're even smaller than him!"

I looked back, blinking in surprise when I saw that Thrill Check had transformed to his humanoid form and followed us out from our hiding place. "Uh, yeah." I cocked my head to one side. "Thrill Check, what are you still doing around? I would have thought you'd have slipped out of here as soon as Sides, Sunny, and Prowl got here."

"Don't call me that," Sunstreaker muttered.

Thrill Check blinked at that. "U-uh, well, I wanted to see this all the way through. Nothing more thrilling than seeing one of those monsters go down, right?" He grinned, but it was a little shaky, and didn't seem to quite reach his eyes.

Joshua raised an eyebrow at that.

"Flare-Up, Spark." Prowl nodded in greeting down at the two of us. "Are you on another break from your studies, then?"

"Yeah, it's summer break." I looked up at the cop bot, grinning. "I've graduated from high school, so I'm gonna take a year off and look into where I could go for college. Maybe I'll even become a World Jumper full-time – who knows?"

Prowl's eyes flickered for a moment. "Are you sure doing that would be wise of you? You are going to eventually stop, and you are going to need something to fall back on."

"Yeah, I know. But I'm going to see what happens with World Jumping first."

Thrill Check made a spluttering noise. " _World Jumping?"_

I looked over at the Mini-Con and grinned. "Yeah!"

"That's one reason why the Cybertronians won't be capable of 'using' us," Joshua said with a knowing spark in his eye. "Our occupation is more important, and it keeps us busy."

Thrill Check looked startled at that.

"Is that what you're worried about?" Wildfire came over, stepping over one of Lugnut's extended arms and being careful of the formerly-alive Cybertronian's claws. "Being used? This isn't the Rust Age."

"Yeah!" Sideswipe agreed. "Besides, we're gonna need your help anyway! Can't fit into tiny spaces, and even if the Reploids _can,_ they can't be up here all the time." He motioned to Joshua and me. "They got lives, too."

Thrill Check blinked at that, looking surprised, then frowned. "I dunno…."

"We can't force you to join us," Prowl said. "That's not something that would be wise, and it would mean we were slipping back into ways we didn't want to replicate. Think it over, and when you've reached your decision, don't be afraid to reach out to us."

Thrill Check cocked his head at that, then nodded, turned and ran off, transforming into his vehicle mode as he went. Seconds later, he was out of sight.

"We'd better get back to Iacon and let them know that the Reforged are starting to move during the light hours," Prowl said, frowning. "It wouldn't be wise to have Flare-Up and Spark remain here in Kaon, either. I'll take them back to Iacon – you three scout the area and see if you can find any more hints as to the Reforged's latest movements."

"And what makes you think that you can order us around?" Sideswipe asked, frowning.

"Because until we can get a council properly running here and have more Cybertronians take on responsibilities and have our planet rebuilt, we are severely stretched thin outside of Iacon and will need to run things militarily for now." Prowl's voice was crisp and clearly said that that was all he was going to say on the matter. "Flare-Up, Spark, if you would follow me. I will be waiting outside for you." He turned and walked out of the building with his doorwings held high.

Sideswipe huffed as soon as Cop Bot was out of the building. "What's gotten his gears all bent?"

"He probably wants to make sure that everything is going smoothly to the best of his ability," Joshua replied. "These Reforged probably aren't helping matters." He motioned to the body of Lugnut that was lying on the ground.

"You got that right." Sunstreaker huffed. "And we still don't know where their base is. I'd like to get right in there and show them a thing or two for slowing us down; Iacon's starting to get crowded with all the civilians that are settling in there."

"You two had better head back with Prowl," Wildfire added. "I'm sure Jazz has tons of questions for you two."

"Oh, yeah…." I paused at that, remembering the mech we'd left behind in Iacon.

" _Jazz?!"_ Sideswipe and Sunstreaker looked at Wildfire.

"Coolsville's back?!" Sideswipe asked, jaw dropping.

"I'm guessing this is a recent thing?" Joshua asked dryly.

"Recent enough that we haven't heard of it!" Sideswipe jumped from one foot to the other eagerly. "I know what I'm doing the next time I'm in town!"

"Well, you're gonna have to wait," Wildfire replied shortly. "Kids, get going. It might not be a good idea to keep Prowl waiting right now."

I nodded in agreement, then turned to look at Joshua, only to see that he was starting towards the door already. I looked back at Wildfire quickly. "I'll see you guys back in Iacon!" Then I dashed out after my cousin.

 **Well, Lugnut showing up was a bit of a surprise. The fact that he was just a walking missile launcher wasn't exactly one that I'd been expecting either.**

 **Whelp, next chapter's probably gonna be going up next week sometime, but I'll have to see how my school schedule works out! I'll see you guys then!**


	15. Cybertron part 3

**I am back with another chapter! Ha ha! Take that, school! I still have free time somewhere!**

 **Shadescribe - A bulldozer would definitely be an apt descripter for the gutted corpse of Lugnut, yes. Quite dangerous, that mech! And I'm glad that you approve of what I'm doing so far!**

 **This next chapter should prove to be most interesting indeed...here we go!**

 **Chapter 15**

 **Maria's POV**

The drive back wasn't all that boring – or, again, all that long, since Prowl managed to get into contact with Iacon and get a Ground Bridge from Kaon back into town again.

"I assume that you have already come into contact with Megatron, then?" Prowl asked as he drove towards the Hall of Records.

I nodded from where Joshua and I were sitting in the backseat of his police car vehicle mode. "Yeah. I wasn't expecting him to look like he did when we showed up. His voice still sounds exactly the same, though."

"Considering that all that was replaced was his outer armor, I am not surprised that his voice still sounds the same, on account of all the damage it has no doubt taken from smoke inhalation from the mines and the gladiator pits before the start of the war," Prowl replied. "He asked that to remain the same, which is something that I find to be extremely odd. He has the chance to completely make himself new and he doesn't."

"I think it just comes down to whether or not he liked the way he looked," Joshua replied. "And the Decepticons who are arriving back on Cybertron know him better by the way his voice is. If he had his frame completely remade and said he was Megatron in a new voice, we might have the Decepticons thinking that he's a puppet the Autobots made or something."

I shuddered at that, flinching away from Joshua. "That's a terrible thought. I wouldn't know what to think of you guys if that was true."

"It could be true in other universes," Joshua pointed out. "We did see an alternate timeline where the morals of both sides of the war had been reversed. There could be some where the morals of those involved in the war are morally ambiguous."

I clapped my hands over my ears as Prowl swerved a little. "Don't say that! I could end up _finding_ one of those universes now! I don't want to see anyone I know acting like _that!"_

"…as unnerving as that thought may be, I agree with Joshua," Prowl said as he came to a stop in front of the Hall of Records. "You have to be prepared for every inevitability, even the ones that you may not expect."

"Or the ones that don't make sense," Joshua added as he and I stepped out of Prowl's vehicle mode.

"That's…a lot of possibilities." I sighed as Prowl shifted to his bipedal form and offered us his hands. We stepped on, and he walked up into the Hall of Records. "And I know that it's infinite possibilities out there – you know the company I keep when I'm not traveling around."

"Right, your 'fandoms'. Half of which I doubt that you'd ever come across, considering how much more danger they'd need to have in order to get your attention." Joshua rolled his eyes as I scowled at him while Prowl moved up the stairs to the second floor of the building, then started past the desks.

"Hey – infinite possibilities, right? There's still a chance that I could get to hang out with Luffy and travel the Grand Line – or even see Danny Phantom in real life!"

"And then get a wanted poster from the Marines or possibly possessed by a ghost," Joshua countered.

"I've nearly been killed before, Joshua. I'm not so sure those things are scaring me as much as they used to. I'll be careful, though."

"I should hope that you are."

Prowl came to a stop in front of a door at the back of the second floor of the Hall of Records. He paused for a moment, then kicked the door.

 _Crrrch!_

I winced as the door opened jerkily. "This building still has its problems?"

"Unfortunately, yes," Prowl replied. He stepped through the now-open doorway. "Rebuilding what we can of our cities takes priority to the small things such as this, however."

"Well, so long as you have a way around it, I guess." I looked around at the room that we had just entered – it looked like the Cybertronian version of a private study, with bookshelves, a large metal desk, a window overlooking Iacon at the back of the room, and a large book sitting open on the desk, what looked like a feather quill lying beside it.

And sitting at that desk, with a thoughtful expression on his face?

"Alpha Trion!" I exclaimed, jumping off Prowl's hand and landed on the desk before he had a chance to lower his hand to let me walk off his fingers. "It's been a while!"

"Indeed it has," Alpha Trion agreed, smiling a little behind his beard and mustache. "I take it that you have been doing well?"

"Yup!" I grinned brightly.

"Considering that we have finished our studies for the year and now are traveling to other worlds quite frequently at home, I should think so," Joshua said as he stepped off Prowl's hand. "Matthew and Liz, Maria's brother and sister, have actually been off-world recently."

"Really? Most interesting – you'll have to get me into contact with them later so that I might be able to know what sort of other worlds exist out beyond our own dimension." Alpha Trion chuckled as he picked up his quill and spun it between his fingers. "Don't you have a city to oversee, Prowl? Perhaps it might be best if you went back before something happened."

"Considering that the Vehicons are the ones presently laboring over the construction, that might be a wise idea." Prowl gave Alpha Trion a nod, then turned and slipped out of the room, the door closing jerkily behind him.

"So, what have you two been up to since I saw you last?" Alpha Trion asked with a twinkle in his eye.

"I would have thought you'd have heard something about it." I nodded to the book sitting in front of him. "Considering you managed to find it."

Joshua looked over at me with an odd expression.

"While that might be true, I'd like to hear your story from you directly." Alpha Trion settled more comfortably into his chair and folded his hands across his chest, the quill nestled between his fingers still. "So? What have Earth's little World Jumpers been up to?"

Joshua launched himself instantly into an explanation of Neo-Earth and how that world compared with ours, referencing their technological advancements and how the Reploids were treated among their human peers as not-quite equals. Then I jumped in and brought him back to the reason that we had been there in the first place: the Limited virus, the havoc it had been creating, and the fact that we had probably started another war on the planet as a result of what had happened when we'd beaten the virus.

"And when we got back, Dad told us that he'd run into Liz when she had World Jumped to another world at the same time," I wrapped up. "Turns out I got my firepower because Dad got dunked in some spiritual energy goo called mako. Same for Matthew with his aura abilities, Liz with her water abilities, and even Collin and his electrical outbursts."

"Intriguing." Alpha Trion leaned forward, resting his elbows on either side of the open book on his desk. "So even when you considered yourself human, you weren't entirely normal."

"Yeah, I guess." I rubbed the back of my head. "Kinda wish I'd been there when Liz ran into Dad, though. It sounds a little too good to be true, only hearing about it."

"Hearing does not have as much weight to it as seeing does, to be sure, but there's nothing wrong in believing it when the truth is within your own body." Alpha Trion poked me in the chest with the feathery end of his quill, causing me to step back a little as a result of the gentle force. "It seems that the multiverse has been moving in ways that would cause you to become a World Jumper, no?"

"Y-ye-uh-maybe? Has it?" I scratched my head, frowning. "Sounds like you're saying that I was destined to become a World Jumper before I was born or something."

"Perhaps. Your life is your own, however – you could have denied going to any universe after your initial travel, and the multiverse might have chosen to move the mantle to one of your siblings. And yet, you have decided to continue down this path, and the multiverse has shifted accordingly." Alpha Trion twirled the quill between his fingers, then looked down at the book in front of him and turned its thin metal pages. "In fact, you have made your mark in the Covenant, as well – you and the other allies from Earth."

That was news to me. "We have?"

"Indeed. In fact, I was hoping to make the profiles more complete, so I have contacted your allies in Nevada and asked them to come up here to assist me in this. Unfortunately, the Maximals who have started to increase in number there aren't able to join us here, but I plan to find a way to include them in the Covenant's pages eventually."

"When are they arriving?" Joshua asked.

"Soon, hopefully. They are taking a break from their studies as well at this point in time, are they not?" Alpha Trion's eyes twinkled. "I assume that neither one of you are going to be traveling anywhere anytime soon yourself, are you?"

I shook my head. "I am planning on heading out, but if I can see Jack, Miko, and Raf again, I can hold off traveling for a little bit."

"I was planning on doing some research myself, but it isn't too pressing," Joshua admitted.

"I was hoping that you would say that." Alpha Trion nodded in approval. "They will be here within one Earth hour. I hope that you can be patient and wait for their arrival."

An hour, huh? Well, that wasn't going to be too long.

 **Time Break**

 _"Knikkity-knock! I'd kick da door down, but I got my hands full!"_

I jolted when I heard Jazz's voice from the other side of the door, blinking off the light recharge that I'd settled into.

Alpha Trion chuckled and shifted the Covenant to one side a little and pressed down on a button that was hidden under the giant tome, causing the door to slide open smoothly.

"So, the door _does_ work?" Joshua asked, looking at Alpha Trion and raising an eyebrow as he and I got up from where he had been sitting on his desk.

Alpha Trion chuckled. "Only under certain circumstances."

 _::Hey, guys!::_ A short figure in a red space suit waved at Joshua and I as Jazz came over to the desk. _::Long time no see!::_

 _::You guys are lucky that you can come up here without space suits!::_ complained another figure – one in a pink space suit. _::It took_ forever _to get into these things!::_

 _::Only because you wanted to come up here in the Apex Armor and Ratchet wouldn't let you::_ responded the third figure – one in a dark blue-colored space suit.

"Miko, really?" I raised an eyebrow at her as Jazz let the trio slide off his fingers with a grin on his face. "I don't think the Cybertronians up here are ready to see a human running around in an ancient Cybertronian relic."

"Indeed not, as a large number of those who have returned so far are naught but survivors," Alpha Trion agreed. "Very few Autobots have returned, and I have no doubt that those that remain of the Decepticons are going to attempt to return and take the planet as theirs in Megatron's name without realizing that he has declared them disbanded on his part."

Miko ran forward and grabbed me in as tight a hug as she could manage, grinning at me through the visor in her space suit. I could see her black-and-pink pigtails as plain as day, as well as he equally bright smile. _::We haven't been able to talk in forever! What have you been up to?::_

"Oh, Joshua and I just went to the world of MegaMan X for a week." I nodded to Joshua, who nodded back in response. "That was interesting."

 _::MegaMan X?::_ Raf repeated. The shorter teen in the green space suit turned and looked at me in surprise, eyes wide behind his glasses. _::You went back there after what happened with Dr. Wily?::_

"It's been a good century on that world; Wily's dead and gone there," I replied. "We did meet a human roboticist, though – a guy named Hadron." I frowned slightly, remembering the skinny man. "He said he'd run into someone else who had done inter-dimensional travel, but he didn't give me any names so that I could know who he was if I ever ran into the guy."

 _::Really?::_ Miko's eyes were wide.

 _::Do you think it could have been another World Jumper?::_ asked the teenage boy in the blue space suit – Jack – as he turned his blue eyes to look at me with a curious expression.

I shrugged. "Who knows? I certainly don't. I never got to meet him – he was gone who knows how long before I got there."

"Yer tellin' me there are more people who do that whole Worl' Jumpin' thing out there than just you?" Jazz asked, getting down into a crouch to get closer to us.

"Just me and my family, you mean," I corrected. "And yeah. I mean, the Multiverse is infinitely huge – you can't expect us to be able to take care of the whole thing, when there's only five of us who are really traveling around from this dimension."

"Considering that Collin hasn't started, yes," Joshua commented. He looked back at Alpha Trion, who had been watching the conversation with a curious, almost _amused_ expression. "Well, you called all of us here for a reason, didn't you?"

"Indeed I did." Alpha Trion tapped the open book in front of him with his quill. "You have seen artifacts of the Primes before, have you not?"

A grin crossed my face at Alpha Trion's question.

 _::Yeah::_ Raf nodded, moving closer to the book with a curious expression. _::Why? Is this one of them, too?::_

"Indeed. Behold, the Covenant of Primus, and the Quill, which can be used to write inside the Covenant and – so it is said – to possibly change events that could take place in the future." Alpha Trion's eyes twinkled. "I found them when we were rebuilding the Hall of Records; I thought they might be of some interest to you, who found the artifacts that I sent to Earth in order to preserve them from being used by the Decepticons and Shockwave in particular."

 _::Wow::_ Raf looked at the pages – with their Cybertronian script – with an expression of awe.

"You serious?" Jazz looked at Alpha Trion as his jaw dropped.

Miko snorted. _::Seriously? A book that can change the future? Why didn't you use it in order to do something about the war?::_

 _::Maybe he couldn't::_ Jack replied.

"Indeed I could not," Alpha Trion replied grimly. "The Quill can only influence events, it cannot completely change them. The war was an inevitable fixed point in time; I could neither prevent it, nor instigate it. That was up to the actions of Orion Pax and Megatron."

 _::You mean before Optimus was Optimus::_ Raf said.

"Exactly so." Alpha Trion nodded. "I could tell he was destined for greatness, but unfortunately, one cannot read the Covenant so far into the future, so I did not see what was to become of him."

My grin faltered at the memory of Optimus Prime diving into the Well of AllSparks in order to give the planet back its ability to create life.

"However, we are not here to dwell on the past today, but on the present."

I shook myself out of my memories when Alpha Trion spoke again.

"As I said before, this book is the true and original Covenant. However, it does not contain all of the events that took place here, simply what has occurred among the people of Cybertron. Which means that there is little to no evidence of your existence among these pages yet." Alpha Trion motioned to the book.

 _::Yet?::_ Jack repeated.

"Now, that ain't right." Jazz shook his head in disapproval. "Are ya sayin' that not even Maria's in there?"

"At the moment. But I am giving you the chance to make your marks in its pages now." Alpha Trion tapped the Covenant's pages with the Quill. "Place your hands on its pages, one at a time, and it will make a record here of who you are and what makes you important to our history."

Jack, Miko, Raf, Joshua, and I all exchanged looks at that, and then Jack stepped forward and placed his hands on the edge of one of the pages.

Instantly the Cybertronian runes that were on the page started _moving_ , swirling into new patterns and creating something different on the pages that definitely didn't look like it was Cybertronian.

 _::Hey, I can read this!::_ Miko came over to stand next to Jack and looked down at the page that he'd changed. _::Wow! You look like a knight or something!::_

"Let me see!" I moved over to Jack's other side as Raf joined us in order to get a better look at what it looked like. "Is that you with the Key?"

 _::Y-yeah::_ Jack looked up at Alpha Trion as we admired the mural-like picture on the Covenant's page of Jack wearing what looked like cobalt-and-silver Cybertronian-like armor with the Key to Vector Sigma hovering between his outstretched hands. _::How did it_ do _that?::_

"It read your memories and created something that resembled who you are best, young human Prime," Alpha Trion replied respectfully. "You were chosen by Optimus as the representative of humans for our entire culture; clearly, he thought highly of your species, and saw great potential in you."

Jack blinked blankly, not quite looking like he knew how to respond to that. _::Whoa::_

 _::Me next!::_ Miko slammed her hands down on the next page of the Covenant, grinning widely as the Cybertronian runes shifted and changed, showing Miko leaning against the collapsed Apex Armor and holding onto a katana while wearing what looked like a pink and black kimono that looked like it could double as armor.

I whistled. "You look like you came from _Samurai Champloo_."

Miko made a noise that sounded like something in Japanese, but it was too low for me to be able to hear and translate.

"A true warrior princess," Alpha Trion said in approval, nodding. "The human Wrecker; quite an appropriate title for yourself." He slipped his hand under the page and turned to the next two covered in Cybertronian runes. "Next?"

Raf put his hands on the page, causing the runes to swirl. _::I wonder what – whoa!::_

 _::Not bad, Raf!::_ Miko exclaimed in approval. _::Sugoi!::_

"That is impressive," Joshua agreed, looking over the picture of Raf sitting in the middle of a circle of what looked like mechanical parts as he sat in front of a computer screen, wearing armor that almost seemed to be glowing green as he frowned at what looked like a screen of Cybertronian code.

"A programmer and medical officer in training," Alpha Trion noted. "Not to mention the heart of the team." He smiled kindly.

Raf rubbed the back of his helmet with an embarrassed expression.

"All right." I rubbed my hands together. "I wonder—"

Joshua put his hands on the next page.

"Hey!" I frowned. Joshua, I was gonna go next!"

"You didn't move quickly enough," Joshua replied as the runes shifted. They revealed him standing in his armor, holding two beakers with different-colored liquids in them with lightning arching between them. "Hm."

 _::You look like a mad scientist!::_ Miko pointed at Joshua. _::That's awesome!::_

"Is that you trying to make synthetic Energon?" I asked, looking at Joshua with a raised eyebrow.

"Makin' what now?" Jazz spoke up. "Hold up. Ya managed ta _make_ Synthetic _Energon?"_

"The formula was mostly complete; it simply took some time to find the right balance of ingredients," Joshua replied. "Unfortunately, Shockwave beat us to it, but Ratchet and I managed to recreate the formula."

"Reawakener of Cybertronians long thought past," Alpha Trion read from the page. "A fantastic title indeed." He turned the page again. "And now, Maria."

I nodded, then put my hands on the page that was the closest to me.

The resulting shifting of the Cybertronian runes resulted in what looked like a picture of me standing in a fighting stance in front of an open portal, a bright red cape pinned to my shoulders and fire arcing over my head and between my open hands.

"Whoa." I blinked a couple times, then removed my hands slowly and looked up at Alpha Trion. "Where'd the cape…come from?"

I frowned. Alpha Trion's eyes had darkened a shade.

 _::Why can't I read some of this?::_ Miko spoke up. _::It looks like gibberish to me::_

I looked back down at the page again, frowning. "What do you—hey, you're right! That doesn't even look like Cybertronian! Or any human language!"

"This is…most certainly odd," Alpha Trion commented. "While I was expecting a little bit of this on the pages of the others, yours and Joshua's pages have more text on your futures than I had been expecting."

"Our futures?" I repeated in confusion. "What do you mean?"

"The Covenant works as a book that can show you both your past and your future," Alpha Trion explained. "If you go too far back, you will find words that haven't been used in centuries and eras, and are therefore completely unreadable. Go too far forward, and you will find languages and words that haven't been created yet, and that makes the future unreadable as well. The fact that you have this much on your page, and Joshua on his, means that you two are going to become very important again sometime in Cybertron's future."

Joshua and I looked at each other at that while Jack, Miko, and Raf stared at us in surprise.

Jazz whistled. "Man, sounds like some big things are gonna be happenin' to ya. Can ya tell how soon?"

Alpha Trion shook his head. "I can't read the words, so it's too far ahead to say for certain. We will simply have to wait and see what will come of the events in the future."

My eyebrows came together as I frowned, concerned. "I hope it's got nothing to do with the actions of the Decepticons in the future…or Unicron, for that matter."

"I hope not, as well," Alpha Trion agreed. "But until the event is nearly upon us, I cannot say for sure what exactly it is that will transpire. We will simply have to wait and let time take its course."

I nodded at that, frowning still.

Alpha Trion clapped his hands together, creating a sort of metallic slapping noise that caused us to jump. "Well, let's not think on the unknown future any more than we already have. Perhaps Jazz could take you on a tour of Iacon? Or do you have to return to Earth for any reason?"

 _::Well, these suits probably aren't going to be able to last for a full tour of Iacon with how much oxygen they have in their systems right now::_ Raf commented. _::And Mrs. Darby did say she wanted us to come back as soon as we could::_

 _::Mom was thinking of letting us sleep over at the base for old time's sake::_ Jack added.

 _::Which would be even more awesome if Bulkhead and Wheeljack could join us::_ Miko folded her arms across her chest and huffed.

 _::You guys can join us, if you want::_ Jack offered, looking over at Maria and Joshua. _::Unless you guys have anything planned right now, that is::_

Joshua and I exchanged looks at the invitation.

"Well, I'd have to check in with Mom and Dad to make sure that it'd be all right, but I don't see why I can't join you guys," I offered. "I'm between World Jumps right now, and so long as they know that I'm still on the planet, it should be fine."

"I should be able to come, as well," Joshua added. "I don't have any experiments right now that are too pressing, and I am curious as to how Jolt and the others have been doing with the recovery of the Maximals from the various Energon mines that we've managed to find so far."

 _::Awesome!::_ Miko gave a thumbs-up.

"Think I could come down with ya?" Jazz asked. "I'd really like ta see what the Earth is like up close." He grinned widely.

I matched his grin at that.

 _::Yeah! I can introduce you to Slash Monkey!::_

My grin faltered a little.

 _::It might be a good idea if we gave him some other stuff to listen to first?::_ Raf suggested. _::I mean, we don't just have shriek metal when it comes to music::_

"Music? I like stuff that's got a beat to it. Really makes ya move." Jazz demonstrated by stepping back from the desk smoothly and swinging around in dance moves that looked like they'd existed back in the 70's.

"I've got a pretty good idea what you're talking about," I said, nodding. "I'll bring my laptop with me to Nevada and play through a couple of my playlists. Should make for a fun couple of hours." I grinned again.

"Sweet!" Jazz grinned back.

"If you want to get your laptop, it might be a good idea if we went back now and used my Space Bridge to Ground Jump us to Nevada," Joshua remarked. "We can stop by your house and tell Mr. and Mrs. Carlsdale where we will be, as well."

I nodded in agreement. "Yeah, sure; sounds good." I looked over at Alpha Trion. "Thanks for letting us be able to see this." I motioned to the Covenant open in front of us."

Alpha Trion chuckled. "Think nothing of it. Get going, then – I will make sure that Wildfire knows you've returned to Earth for now. I'm sure you will be back soon?"

"If I can!" I grinned brightly at the archivist, then backflipped onto my hoverboard as Jazz lowered his hands to the desk again, allowing for Jack, Miko, Raf, and Joshua to climb on.

"Let's get ya back to the Space Bridge, then!" Jazz said. "We'll get you two home, an' we'll be waitin' fer ya in Nevada!"

"Yup!" I grinned in agreement as we started out of the room and down towards the main floor of the Hall of Records. "Something tells me this is gonna be fun!"

Joshua rolled his eyes in response as Miko yelled excitedly in agreement.

 **Change in POV**

As soon as Jazz and the children were gone, Alpha Trion slumped in his chair and dragged a hand over his face.

"What is it about young, innocent minds that attracts so much trouble?" he sighed worriedly to himself.

The old Prime looked at the open Covenant again, at Maria's page covered in writing of the future, and he leaned forward and ran the tip of one of his fingers along the first line of text.

There was one word that he was able to decipher out of that line, and even then, he could only tell what it was from the lines that made up the letters of the first half of the word.

 _"Quint."_

"Most ominous," Alpha Trion murmured to himself. "And most worrisome. And yet…there is still a chance that they will not return. One can only hope that the future is a malleable as the material that covers the Earth."

He picked up the Quill, paused for a moment, then lowered it towards the page….

 **Ooooo, foreshadowing! Nye heh heh!**

 **That's not going to happen for a good long while, though, so I'll have to hold you guys on suspense with that point for a bit!**

 **I'll see you next time, when we return to Earth for a little while!**


	16. Cybertron part 4

**Back with the next chapter!**

 **Shadescribe - thanks for catching my mistake! I went back and fixed it; the previous chapter should have Slash Monkey instead of Smash now. And yes, I have heard of Undertale! Unfortunately, I haven't played the game, but I do know about the characters and the usual routes for the game, so it's been horribly spoiled for me at this point. I don't know if I'll ever get around to actually playing it, but I'll have to see. I appreciate the pun you put in your review, too. I happen to have a bit of a soft spot for them, I guess. :)**

 **Anyway, here we go!**

 **Chapter 16**

 **Maria's POV**

When Joshua and I stepped out of his lab, I blinked in surprise when I noticed that it was the sun was closer to the horizon than it had been when we left…but not by much.

"Whoa. Hardly feels like we were gone at all." I looked over at Joshua.

"We have been gone for a few hours," Joshua remarked in reply. "It's closer to the evening that it looks like, as well, if only because of the long summer hours that have started to set in. We'd better make sure that Mr. and Mrs. Carlsdale know where we're going to be tonight so that they don't worry about you."

"Right." I nodded in agreement, then started down the street towards the house. Joshua followed after me. "What about your parents, though? I mean, you haven't really talked about them and how they're dealing with all the stuff you're up to." I frowned. "And what about Khrista? I haven't really seen much of her recently."

Joshua actually paused at that. "Khrista…her parents aren't quite as worried about her as they used to be – not after she went to a world on her own. I think that they finally understand that they can't protect her as well as they think they can. As for my parents, well…." He shrugged. "When I came back and made the refrigerator more energy efficient on my own, they understood that I'd changed and decided that I knew what I was getting myself into."

I blinked a couple times at that, not quite sure of what I'd just heard. "Just like that?"

"Just like that."

"Man, your parents must be really open-minded." I looked across the street over at Khrista's house as we moved by it and towards my own. "But where's Khrista right now?"

Joshua shrugged. "I think she's taken to spending more time on…Neo-Mobius, you called it? It's more than likely she went straight there as soon as school ended."

I blinked at that, then frowned. "But a year there is a day here – or, at least, it _was,_ before Cyrus messed with it. Do you think there's a chance that the whole time-thing decided to…shift, somehow?"

"Perhaps. It is possible for galaxies to move slowly within space; it might be possible for dimensions to shift locations and change the amount of time that takes place between them as well." Joshua tapped his chin in thought. "I'm afraid I'm not a complete expert at inter-dimensional mechanics; that's something that would probably take centuries of study before anyone could even remotely grasp at what it is that's going on in the Multiverse."

I nodded in agreement as we stepped up onto the front porch of my house. "Yeah, I'd believe that." I opened the door and stepped inside, Joshua following after me. "Mom, Dad, I'm back!"

Mom and Dad looked up from the kitchen table as we stepped into the kitchen.

"We weren't expecting you back until tomorrow." Dad closed the book he'd been reading and put it on the table.

"Well, we're going to be heading out again in a bit – Jack invited us over to his place," I explained. I frowned a little. "Where's Matthew? I would have thought he'd be playing a video game right now in the next room over?"

"He's gone off again with Liz to take care of something," Mom replied, looking over the edge of her sketchbook at me. "Something about a recent Mario game and a character they thought was dead messing with events."

Joshua raised an eyebrow. "Interesting. Well, that should be easier on them than Final Fantasy or Legend of Zelda. I doubt we're going to be going anywhere ourselves for a while yet, however." He looked over at me.

I shrugged. "Well, not yet. I mean, I'd like to get to the other worlds eventually, but if there are things going on here, then I should probably stick around, right?"

"Sounds like a good idea." Dad slapped a hand on the cover of his book for emphasis. "You kids go have fun at Jack's house. We'll be fine here."

"Just let us know if you have to head anywhere, all right?" Mom added.

"Sure thing," I replied, nodding. "I guess I'll see you guys in a day or two, depending on what happens in Nevada?"

"See you then," Dad replied with a grin.

 **Time Break**

Joshua opened up a Ground Bridge straight into what probably looked like an unassuming warehouse on the outside – to someone who wasn't from the military base it happened to be on, at any rate.

Jack, Miko, and Raf were already standing in front of the open doors of the warehouse in what I guessed were the outfits they really felt most comfortable in. Parked on the tarmac, engine purring rather smugly, was a mostly white sports car with a couple stripes of color going from the hood to the trunk.

"Jazz?" I guessed.

The smug purring sputtered a bit. "How'd ya know?"

"The stripes give you away. And car engines don't sound smug." I grinned as the car seemed to sink down a little, then looked over at Jack, who looked a little amused by my comment. "So, we're heading to Jasper, then?"

"That's the idea," Jack replied. "I don't know if we'd all fit in Jazz's alt mode, though."

"I can fly on my hoverboard; I'll be fine." As though to prove my point, I activated my hoverboard and stepped on, rising a couple inches above everyone else in the process.

Miko scowled. "Why didn't you backflip that time?"

"Didn't feel like it."

Joshua snorted. "Well, standing around all afternoon isn't going to get us anywhere. Let's go." He walked over to Jazz, and the back passenger seat door popped open and let Joshua slip inside.

"Now, I don't know my way around, so you're gonna have ta show me where your place is," Jazz said as Jack, Miko, and Raf started towards the car.

"No problem," Jack replied. "And, uh, you mind if I sit in the driver's seat? People around here don't know about you guys, and it'd be kinda hard to explain why we're driving around in a car that doesn't have anyone actually driving it."

"Yeah, sure! What about Maria, though?"

"I can disguise myself." I shrugged one shoulder, then activated my Light Refractor, causing my appearance to ripple and nearly disappear from sight for a moment. "Doesn't hide me from heat detectors, but the naked eye? Nobody's gonna see me."

"Sweet." Jazz shut the doors as Jack settled into the driver's seat and Miko climbed into the front passenger's seat. "All right; let's go!"

Heading to Jack's house was an….interesting trip. Jazz nearly went through two red lights before he figured out what exactly they meant, _nearly_ went over the speed limit, and slowed down to practically a crawl when we finally got to Jasper because he was worried about running people over. We did finally get to the Darby house, though, and managed to get Jazz into the garage before he could even think about transforming right out on the street.

"You're gonna have to stay like that until we get back to base," Jack warned as I deactivated my Light Refractor and landed next to him and the others in the garage. "There's not enough room in here for someone as big as you."

"Yeah, I can tell," Jazz grumbled. He sighed, shifting on his tires. "Can't say I'm not used ta it, though. Just don' have the patience fer it."

"We could hang out in the garage for as much as we can, though," Raf added. "You know – to keep you company."

"I'd appreciate that." Jazz's voice brightened up at that a little. "Thanks."

The door inside the garage opened, revealing a woman with black hair and blue eyes, still wearing scrubs from her day job – Nurse Darby, Jack's mom. She blinked in surprise, then frowned. "Jack, what's with the car?"

"I-it's another Autobot, mom," Jack replied. "His name's Jazz."

"Call me Coolsville," Jazz said.

Nurse Darby raised an eyebrow. "Not happening."

I almost got the sense he was trying to play the "cool cat" and snickered. "Jazz, cut it out. I think your real name's more than enough of a giveaway for your personality."

The car seemed to deflate again, which Nurse Darby actually seemed to be amused by.

"Is he visiting from Cybertron?" Nurse Darby asked casually.

"You bet I am!" Jazz promptly perked up again. "I want ta learn as much as I can – startin' wit' da music!"

I laughed in response. "Well, we should be able to help you there, no problem!" I reached behind my back and pulled out my red backpack, zipping open one of the pockets. "I should have my laptop in here…."

"You have a computer?" Raf asked in surprise. "But…you could surf the web using what's up here, right?" He tapped the side of his head. I knew what he meant.

"Well, yeah, but I don't want to know what happens if I accidentally come across a computer virus or something." I looked down when my hand came into contact with something that felt metal and smooth. "Found it!" I pulled out the sleek, metal device and plopped down on the garage floor, opening it up and turning it on with a grin.

"You're a Mac user?" Miko frowned. "I thought you were a PC kinda person."

"Dad's used Macs as far back as I can remember," I replied. "It kinda runs in the family, and I happen to like it anyway."

Jazz leaned over a little – an act that looked a little weird, since he was still in his vehicle mode. "What's that?"

"A portable computer," Joshua explained. "Humans don't have the mental capacity that Cybertronians do, and they don't have access to the Internet using their minds. We use machines made for that sort of thing instead." He motioned to my computer as I opened up a web browser and got a couple sites up on my screen. "If you can see it, Maria's got some of the more common sites up now."

"Dude, you're on Tumblr?!" Miko leaned over my shoulder as I logged in. "Sweet! I've gotta find you later! What's your handle?"

I chuckled and clicked my icon, pulling up another window with my blog. "Multiversal-Excursions, but my blog's Broken Fourth Walls. I've taken to documenting things on and off there about my travels to other worlds and characters that I've run into." I frowned at my main page. "Looks like I've got a backlog of inbox messages…I'll have to get to those. First, music!"

"What kinda place is Tumblr?" Jazz asked as I went over to YouTube and went hunting for my usual tunes.

"It's a social network for people – mostly younger folks," I explained as I pulled up a playlist. "People post opinions there, as well as drawings and short stories, but a lot of it is arguing over this or that or making jokes about different things in the real world. It's got its ups and downs, but if you've got fans, it's the easiest way to connect with them."

I clicked play on the first song in the playlist, and I smirked as the first few lines of one of my more favorite songs started coming out of my computer's speakers.

 _"We built this city…we built this city on rock and roll…."_

"Come on!" Miko complained. "Why not Slash Monkey?"

"Because I'd rather not blow out the eardrums of everybody in the neighborhood?" I suggested.

"Shriek metal might not be a good place to start," Joshua agreed, nodding.

Miko scowled at that.

Jazz settled on his tires, bouncing a little to the beat, but not so much that any one of us could have felt the ground shake. "This is _nice._ I'm diggin' the beat with this one!"

"It's one of my favorites," I responded, going into my Tumblr inbox. "That's why I – whoa."

"What is it?" Raf came over.

"I've got a lot more in here than I'd expected to get. Looks like some people were trying to send me suggestions as to places I could go as soon as summer started." I frowned. "But there's no way that I would go to some of these." I deleted a couple messages that were sitting at the top of my inbox, then skimmed through the list before going back to one of the more recent ones.

 _"Are you okay? You haven't been online for a while."_

"How many people do you have following you?" Miko spoke up.

"Couple thousand, I think. Ever since the video games came out and I've posted the occasional thing here on Tumblr, people around town noticed and thought to spread the word a bit." I started typing up a response as I added, "Most people think that I'm a role-playing blog, I think, but there are some friends of ours who know that I'm the real deal."

"Role-play?" Jazz asked.

"You pretend to be someone else," Raf explained. "Usually fictional characters. You're basically putting yourself in their 'role' and have a little fun with it."

"Which makes things weird on here sometimes, because people have only seen me in two games and know that I was involved in some events before Khrista's game came out," I added. I posted my answer – _"I'm OK! I was back on Neo-Earth helping Xavier (MegaMan X) out with something all last week. Had a little bit of trouble, but I'm back for a little while for a breather before I go off again."_ – then continued, "They don't know that I'm still actually traveling around, rather than trying to live out my life somewhere as a Reploid disguised as the human she used to be."

Jazz stilled from his gentle rocking with the Jefferson Starship tune. "I'm sorry, what? _Used_ ta be human? This is one o' those things Wildfire was gonna tell me about later, wasn't it?"

I gained a sheepish grin at that. "Eh-heh. Yeah, that's probably the biggest change. I got into an accident that nearly killed me, and my body wasn't exactly holding itself together, so a guy named Dr. Light stepped in and saved my life. So I'm more like you guys now, but I can't transform."

"Huh. I wish I could find this Dr. Light guy an' thank 'im. Anythin' else I should know about ya?"

"Well, other than the fact that I'm pretty much a smaller version of Wildfire when it comes to my powers? Nothing that I can really think of." I shrugged.

"Hey, here's an odd question." Raf pointed at my computer screen. "Have you ever thought about going to a place and just living there for the rest of your life?"

I raised an eyebrow at my open inbox. "Hm. I haven't gotten asked _that_ question yet. I've been wondering when it was going to pop up, honestly." My fingers hovered over the keyboard for a moment, then I started typing out my response as I spoke my thoughts aloud. "To be honest, this dimension still feels like home to me. I've got family here, and I've got you guys too." I grinned at Jack, Miko, Raf, Joshua, Nurse Darby, and Jazz while I typed " _my friends"_ into the answer box. "So I don't really feel like leaving this dimension for good."

"Besides, your parents would be worried about you if you did," Nurse Darby added. "I know I would if Jack decided to leave and I would never get to see him again." She shot her son a knowing look, causing him to smile a little and nod in agreement.

"I don't think I'm quite ready to think about what could happen when I graduate yet," Jack said.

I snorted. "You and me both. I'm still not sure where I could go to for college yet. Or even if I _can_ go to college at all, considering that World Jumping could eat away at my school time." I frowned at the next message in my inbox and typed "nope" before moving onto the next one. "We Built This City" ended at about the same time, so I jumped back onto YouTube and pulled up the next song, Bon Jovi's "Livin' on a Prayer."

"I have a full ride to the local engineering college," Joshua spoke up casually. "If only because of how well I have been doing in school; they aren't aware of how much I've been experimenting as of yet."

I paused in the middle of writing a response to another question – _"What do you think of Archie and Maxie?"_ \- and turned my head to stare at my cousin. "Seriously? I would have thought that you wouldn't have even gone _into_ college!"

"Well, the thought is that I'm going to need something as a backup if Fowler's not able to get me into a government facility or Jolt isn't able to give me a permanent place to stay on Cybertron," Joshua replied casually. He paused. "Speaking of which, how have things been going around here? I know we've been keeping in touch, but the base looked…unusually empty when we arrived there." He motioned towards the street.

"Oh, that!" Raf adjusted his glasses. "Ratchet and Rhinox are working on something right now and don't want to be disturbed. The rest of the Maximals that have woken up so far are trying to find other places that might be rich in Energon – you know, to find more of their kind and wake them up. A lot of them want to find their leader, but so far they haven't been having any luck with that."

"Leader?" I looked at Raf curiously.

"I think I heard somethin' about that," Jazz commented. "But my history's a bit _rusty_ with these guys. Didn' they call their boss Convoy or somethin'?"

"That's what Rhinox said," Jack confirmed.

"I think they said they had two, actually," Nurse Darby spoke up. "Leo and Bighorn? At least, that's what it sounded like."

"Leo and Bighorn?" I scratched my head. "Well, I'm gonna guess that Leo is probably a lion, but what about Bighorn?"

"Rattrap said he's a mammoth!" Miko replied helpfully. "And he's _huge,_ even for Cybertronians!"

"Really?" My eyebrows shot up. "Well, I hope they can find him. At least Earth isn't as big as Cybertron, so it shouldn't take them too long."

"Hopefully," Raf agreed. "But things have really slowed down since we found Silverbolt in December, and all the known mines have been checked. It's going to take a while if we're going to find anymore Maximals."

I frowned at that. "Maybe the Decepticons had some hidden ones somewhere or something."

"Maybe, but they definitely aren't in the database," Joshua replied. "The only one who probably knows the coordinates of such places is Soundwave, and we aren't going to be relying on him for assistance anytime soon."

I blinked at that while Jack, Miko, and Raf nodded in agreement. "Maybe we still can."

Jack looked at me sharply out of surprise. "Are you seriously contemplating springing him from the Shadowzone? He could get the Decepticons started all over again!"

"He's a spy, not a leader," Jazz spoke up. "Sure, this guy knows how ta handle Mini-Cons, but he ain' charismatic, he's downright _creepy."_ He shuddered on his wheels. "If he's stuck somewhere else, I'd prefer it if he stays there."

"I dunno. I mean, the Shadowzone's a good enough place to keep him for a _little_ while, but he can't interact with this dimension, right? Where there's Energon and who knows what else he's going to need in order to keep him alive?" I looked around at the others. "Megatron's reformed. Starscream's only the Predacons know where. Knock Out defected, Arachnid's stuck on the moon, the Vehicons are working with us – I'd feel a little better about all this if Soundwave was somewhere we could just keep an eye on him instead of able to run around in the background _spying_ in who knows how many different ways while he's killing himself running out of energy! Someone could find a way to drag him out of the Shadowzone later regardless of what we do and pick his brain for info that could leave the Cybertronians compromised as a whole, not to mention who knows _what_ it's going to do to the governments here on Earth."

That caused the four humans to exchange looks while Joshua frowned and Jazz remained silent.

 _Bwoop!_

I blinked at the noise, then turned my head to look at my computer, frowning. "It's still early in the afternoon, who—"

I cut myself short and sucked in a breath.

Another message had popped into my inbox.

 _"Flare-Up. Waiting by Destroyed Autobot Base. Come alone. –Soundwave"_

I turned sharply and responded quickly, setting the answer to private so that no one on my blog would see it. "What makes you think that I'm going to come alone? You're a Decepticon – the word 'deceive' is right in your name."

Raf leaned over my shoulder as I sent the message. "I'll get my laptop. Maybe I can track him and see if he's there."

"I'd appreciate that," I replied, not taking my eyes off the computer screen as another message popped up and Raf scrambled to pull his laptop out of his backpack.

"What's goin' on?" Jazz asked.

"Soundwave found Maria's blog on Tumblr!" Miko replied.

"He _what?"_

 _Bwoop!_

 _"Decepticons: disbanded. – Soundwave"_

"Just because they are disbanded doesn't mean that I'm going to trust you right away. I know you want out of the 'Shadowzone', but I don't know what you're going to do when you get out." I hit enter and sat back, frowning at the screen as Raf sat next to me and opened his laptop.

 _"War: ended. Wish to return to: Cybertron. – Soundwave"_

That caused me to pause. "He hasn't been to Cybertron. He only saw Megatron get killed by Bumblebee up on the _Nemesis_ – he doesn't know about Unicron and…what happened to Optimus." I looked at the others, then looked over at Joshua.

 _Bwoop!_

I looked back at the computer screen as another message popped up.

 _"Require Energon. Laserbeak: in stasis lock. – Soundwave"_

I paused again. "Would you protest to the presence of Maximals to take you back to base and ensure that you are sound in body?"

"Maria!" Jack exclaimed with worry. "Are you sure that's a good idea?"

"We're negotiating," I replied. "Since the war's over, I'm giving him the benefit of the doubt. It's been a year since then, and he _has_ to be low on Energon by now. Besides, I think Ultra Magnus will feel better if he knows where to keep an eye on Soundwave instead of constantly looking over his shoulder like he was during Spring Break."

 _Bwoop!_

 _"Answer: Two Cybertronians. One medic. Time of arrival: Now. – Soundwave."_

"At least he's agreed to me bringing company," I muttered.

"I'm picking up a signal from by where the old base is, but it's faint and extremely hard to pin down," Raf spoke up suddenly. "It looks like it could be Decepticon, but I'm not sure."

I nodded. "Okay; gotcha." I reached for my left ear to activate my comm, but Jack grabbed my arm before I could reach it.

"Are you sure this is a good idea?" Jack asked worriedly. "I mean, this is _Soundwave_ we're talking about."

"I'd rather not let him starve to death," I replied. "Sure, he looks like a creepy Slenderman, but I'd rather not let him die. It just doesn't feel right." I pulled my hand up to my ear; Jack let my arm slip out of his fingers as I activated my comm and reached out for the Autobot base on Earth. "Hey, Ratchet? You and Rhinox are there, right? I could use your help with something."

 **...Well, this is gonna be interesting.**

 **And if anybody asks, I haven't made a Tumblr for Maria _yet._ I'm kind of on the fence about it right now, but I'm leaning towards it being extremely likely that I'm going to make one. Maybe even before the end of this month. I'll have to see.**

 **Anyway, I'll see you guys next time!**


	17. Cybertron: Decepticon Spy

**Heh heh heh...this was a bit of an interesting chapter to write. Mostly because I got to experiment with Maria's power a bit!**

 **Thanks to xenocanaan for the Fav and Follow!**

 **Shadescribe - Nice! Getting the True Pacifist ending looks like it's the most difficult thing to manage!**

 **And I actually _have_ made an account on Tumblr for Maria now! And you don't actually need a Tumblr to go over there and ask her questions, either - I have the anonymous part of the ask on, and it's possible for people who don't have accounts to ask questions that way!  
**

 **Maria is multiverse-excursions, so don't be afraid to pop over there and say hi, Tumblr account or no! She hasn't done too much yet beyond interact with a few Gravity Falls folks (guess what I happen to be mostly following), and I'm hoping to expand her little crowd eventually.**

 **And with that announcement out of the way...here's the chapter!**

 **Chapter 17 – Decepticon Spy**

 **Maria's POV**

Ratchet wasn't too happy about the idea of pulling Soundwave from the Shadowzone, but when I brought up that it'd been a good year since the guy had been pulled out _and_ he was probably extremely low on Energon, he agreed to the idea.

Reluctantly.

"I don't see why you seem to think this is a good idea," the red and white Autobot grumbled as we headed out to where a mesa used to be. "Yes, Soundwave _is_ more than likely to go into stasis lock at any moment, and _yes_ it is my duty as a medic to make sure that Cybertronians stay well, _but he is a Decepticon!"_

"Who knows the war is over," I replied from where I was sitting in the passenger's seat. I looked out the window, watching as the sun disappeared on the edge of the horizon. At this rate I was probably going to bed late tonight or early tomorrow morning, depending on what else ended up needing my attention. "He just doesn't know about what happened on Cybertron."

"Yes, the incident involving Unicron," said the giant rhino that happened to be running alongside Ratchet's vehicle mode – Rhinox, the Maximal medic. "How is it that he isn't aware? He was on the _Nemesis;_ I should have thought that he would have ended up in the Shadowzone on Cybertron."

"Yeah, that's what I would have thought, too." I nodded. "But it looks like the twin Ground Bridges ended up leaving him stuck on Earth somehow. Like…he could have phased out of the ship during the final fight and fell to the planet or something."

"I doubt _that_ happened," Ratchet scoffed.

"Well, we won't know for sure what did and what didn't until we find this Decepticon, correct?" Rhinox pointed out.

Ratchet sighed, a slight shudder going through his vehicle mode as the pile of twisted metal and rock appeared on the horizon. "Unfortunately, that is exactly our situation. Maria, are you sure that you will be able to bring him out of the Shadowzone using your ability?"

"Probably?" I shrugged. "Joshua said it should be possible, since you guys used the Ground Bridges to put him on a dimensional plane that's connected with ours but leaves him like a ghost. I just have to make sure that I don't try to access the dimension next door instead."

Ratchet made an odd humming noise that made him sound a little impatient and annoyed. Probably more annoyed than anything else.

We pulled to a stop near the wreckage, and Ratchet let me scramble out of his vehicle mode before he and Rhinox transformed into their bipedal modes.

"All right." Ratchet glared down at me. "Let's see if you can find this Decepticon."

I cracked my knuckles – getting a shudder from both medics at the noise – and started to focus on the ability I had that _wasn't_ based on fire.

Getting a portal to open to another dimension was easy enough – just picture the dimension and snap my fingers, and off I went. Trying to get to a parallel plane that was still in our dimension but couldn't interact with us? That was going to be a big more difficult to handle.

Especially since I hadn't used my portals like modified Ground Bridges before.

I closed my eyes and focused, trying to find a sort of feeling that always seemed to spring up for a second when I was activating my portals – a sort of humming feeling that would settle in my chest for a second. On top of that, I tried to focus on what I'd been _told_ about the Shadowzone, since I hadn't actually been there myself.

 _Okay. Jack, Miko, and Raf all said that the place was basically the same, except it was like the entire world had been covered in shadows. Still reachable by radio waves and texts, since Miko could reach them with her phone and Soundwave was obviously able to get to my computer. If it's_ kind of _another dimension, then…maybe I can reach it…._

The humming started up in my chest, and I instantly felt like there were walls on all sides – some weaker and some stronger than others. It felt like there was something shifting and moving around on the other sides of some of the other walls,

 _Bwump!_

I stiffened at the noise that seemed to echo in my own head. _Something was banging against one of the walls._

The humming in my chest turned into a throbbing, and something _pulsed_ from within, and I got a better idea of what was making the noise as a sort of blue-tinted picture of the world around me entered my mind. Probably the closest way I could describe the experience was if I had been born with Aura Sight instead of Matthew getting it.

 _A humanoid monster was at my left._

"Nope," I said aloud. "Not letting you over here." I took a step away from the creature just seconds before it _opened its whole head like a flower and screeched at me_. "Deeeeeeefinitely not."

"Maria, what are you—"

Ratchet was quickly shushed by Rhinox, which I was grateful for because my concentration was starting to waver a little, making everything that I was seeing flicker a little, then solidify as I focused again.

The humanoid monster with the flower-mouth for a head faded from sight, and I caught sight of something else: a large, familiar figure, collapsed on the ground right in front of us and between us and the destroyed remains of the base, head turned towards me.

"There you are." I cracked my knuckles again as I focused on the giant metal figure that I knew to be Soundwave. "Okay, I hope this doesn't take too long. Don't want to give that other beast a chance to slip through."

I put my hands out in front of me and felt the near-invisible dimensional wall that was between me and Soundwave. Thin lines appeared across its surface, with one particularly large one in the middle that seemed to make the wall look more like a translucent blue door.

I moved my hands to either side of the line and pushed.

Instantly, the thrumming in my chest shot up in volume to something more like a high-pitched whine, and Soundwave reached through the opening and dragged himself through. I jumped off to the side in order to avoid getting hit by his claws as they dug into the desert sand and pulled him forward inch by agonizing inch. As soon as he was all the way through, I snapped my fingers and shut the doors behind him, then opened my eyes.

There was Soundwave, lying on the desert sand in a position that almost seemed to suggest that he was passed out, and Ratchet and Rhinox were looking back and forth between me and him with shocked expressions on their faces.

"That felt _really_ weird," I offered. I stumbled a little and bumped into Rhinox's leg, feeling a good portion of my energy drain suddenly. "It was like I could see the walls between dimensions or something. I didn't think I could do that."

Soundwave shifted on the sand, turning his head to look up at Ratchet. A blast of static seemed to come out of nowhere.

Ratchet looked down at him with an annoyed expression, then huffed and grabbed Soundwave's arm, pulling him up part way. "Joshua, a Ground Bridge, if you please!"

The green portal appeared in front of them instantly as Rhinox grabbed Soundwave's other arm and pulled him up with one hand. He reached down and picked me up with the other and moved through the Ground Bridge, staying in step with the Autobot medic.

As soon as we were back in the warehouse, Rhinox quickly put me down on the Cybertronian chest-high recreation platform that Jack, Miko, Raf, and Nurse Darby were presently on as they waited for us to come back. I stumbled a little as soon as I got off Rhinox's hand, but Jack caught me before I could completely fall over.

"How did you manage to get him out?" Raf asked as Jack helped me over to the worn, green couch and Rhinox and Ratchet dragged Soundwave over to the medbay part of the hangar. "I thought you could only cross into different dimensions, not planes of existence!"

"Well, it looks like I can," I replied as I dropped onto the couch with a sigh. "It was _really_ weird, though. It was like I could see all the walls of the different dimensions that, I dunno, overlapped with ours or something. A monster was trying to break through a different wall from Soundwave's, too, but I didn't let him through."

"A monster?" Jazz repeated from where he stood nearby. "What kind 'a monster?"

I shuddered at the memory of the thing. "Probably the kind of monster you'd find in horror movies. It looked humanoid, but its feet and hands were too big and too long, not to mention it didn't have any clothes or anything that might have given it a gender. And its entire _head_ opened up into something that looked like a mix between a flower and a mouth. Eugh." I stuck my tongue out and shuddered again. "Luckily, he was on a different dimensional plane from Soundwave, so he couldn't sneak into ours when I was pulling Soundwave out of the Shadowzone."

"Whoa." Miko's eyes were wide.

"Sounds like the monster from _Stranger Things,"_ Joshua commented as he came over to the platform from an adjoining one that was near the Ground Bridge controls. "I might have guessed that the monster existed, but I didn't think that it could exist in _this_ dimension."

"You're serious?" I stared at Joshua as he leaned against the railing that went around the platform. "That _thing_ that I saw is in _that_ show?"

"You mean you haven't watched it?" Raf asked in surprise. "I thought it would have been right up your alley, since they talk about traveling between dimensions quite a bit!"

I shook my head. "I don't like jump scares. Haven't even tried watching it."

Miko snorted. "Ridiculous. You can _stare down Megatron –_ shoot, you even wanted to stare down _Unicron!_ And you're _scared_ of something like _that?"_

"I can be scared of things," I responded, frowning.

"Well, yeah, but I thought you'd be scared of _big_ things, not some creepy monster."

"I think her fear is warranted," Joshua replied. "If the creature is more than capable of killing you by tearing your rib cage out and stuffing something down your throat, then I think that steering clear of it is a wise idea."

Jazz, who had been nodding along with Joshua's statement at first, did a double-take at the end. "Yeesh."

"It can do _what?!"_ I gained an unnerved expression at that. "Okay, definitely glad that I didn't look that show up when it started appearing on Tumblr. _Geez,_ I hope that thing doesn't break through into our dimension anytime soon."

"Well, you didn't give it an opening, so it shouldn't," Joshua replied. "Congratulations, you've just prevented the Upside-Down from taking any victims in this dimension."

I sighed in relief. "Well, that's a good thing."

"You were right in bringing Soundwave in." Rhinox came over again. "He is dangerously low on Energon; he fell into stasis lock as soon as we came into the base."

"I wasn't expecting anything else, honestly," I replied. "I mean, I don't think _I'd_ last very long without a place to get energy from, and you guys got Energon pretty regularly during the war, so…." I trailed off as Rhinox nodded.

"The fact that he has allowed himself to be taken in by the enemy certainly speaks of his desperation, as well," the Maximal added. "Ratchet wants Ultra Magnus contacted now in order to have Soundwave arrested as soon as he has been given enough Energon to function. I'm not sure if he intends to inform Megatron that his third in command has been found, as well."

I frowned at that. "Why? The Decepticons are disbanded – Megatron said so himself."

"But Soundwave doesn't know that Unicron brought Megatron back from the dead and that Optimus sacrificed himself," Joshua pointed out. "He's been out of the loop."

"Well, yeah, but that doesn't mean we have to _keep_ him out of the loop." I scowled. "The war's over; I don't see what the problem is with telling him Megatron's still around and Starscream and Shockwave probably _aren't_ problems right now, if what I've heard from the Predacons is anything to go by."

Rhinox cleared his throat at that. "Yes, well. I believe it is getting late for all of you? Shouldn't you be going to sleep?"

"When Rattrap's not back yet?" Miko protested instantly. "Come on, Rhinox! I've got plans with him!"

I yawned. "Going to sleep might not be a bad idea, actually. Forcing a portal open between dimensional planes took a lot more out of me than opening a portal between universes does."

"How does _that_ work?" Jazz asked. "If you're stayin' in the same universe, wouldn't it take less energy?"

"I'm supposed to jump between worlds, not planes of existence in the same dimension." I yawned again. "Peeling back layers like that probably is necessary sometimes, but it's probably not something that I should do all that often. So I can't act as a jailer for the Shadowzone or anything like that, especially since I've got other things to worry about." I shifted my position a little, trying to get more comfortable on the couch.

"Makes sense." Jazz nodded. "So, what? We call the big guy in now?"

"We could." Joshua paused. "Or we could wait for Soundwave to recover his senses and inform him of the state of things and then call Ultra Magnus in. I doubt it would be wise, but it would mean that he would be far less confused about his present situation when he awakens."

"We could do both," Raf offered. "I mean, we could call Ultra Magnus now and tell him to wait to get Soundwave until after he's woken up."

"I'd go for that idea," I spoke up with another yawn.

"You should go to sleep." Joshua sent a pointed look at me. "Who knows how much energy ripping open a dimensional layer drained from you."

"I'd say somewhere between 25 and 50 percent, but you've got a point," I agreed. I settled down into the couch as comfortably as I could and closed my eyes. "Wake me up if Slenderman starts coming out of stasis lock, okay?"

I don't know if anyone answered, because by that point I was deep in sleep.

 **Well. That was interesting. Apparently, peeling back dimensional walls to access other planes in a single dimension is something World Jumpers can do. Don't know if Maria's going to be doing that again anytime soon, but it would certainly be interesting...**

 **True fact: neither I nor Maria can handle jump scares very well. We just react differently: I'd scream and run, she'd whirl around and probably shoot the closest thing without thinking.**

 **So don't let her play Five Nights at Freddy's. She'll probably demolish the computer as soon as one of those animatronic beasties makes itself known.**

 **So I'll see you guys next week!**


	18. Cybertron part 6

**Hey, guys! Sorry I didn't post last week - I'm falling a little bit behind on actually getting chapters for this fic finished.**

 **So, this year, instead of working on an original fic, this story's gonna be my NaNo Novel. :) Works well for my fifth entry into the competition, don't you think?**

 **Shadescribe - I know of FNAF, but I don't ever plan to play it. Jumpscares and lore involving kids being stuck in suits just isn't my thing. When I get scared, I usually try to get away from the thing that scared me as quickly as possible. So I usually run up to my room and hide if there's a scary movie on, for example.**

 **Ah...heh...so you know what I'm doing in the Puppet AU, eh? I don't blame you for staying away from it - shoot, I'd love to stay away from it, but it's stuck in _my_ head and _my_ head _only_ , so I've gotta get it out.**

 **And yeah, I agree with you completely when it comes to Maria's powers - that's exactly what I was thinking myself! Maria isn't quite built to access different planes on a single dimension, so it does take more energy.**

 **So, now...let's see what happens to Soundwave, eh?**

 **Chapter 18**

 **Maria's POV**

I woke up to the feeling of someone shaking me. I cracked an eye open.

Jack pulled back a hand. "He's awake. Ultra Magnus said he'd be here in a couple of hours."

I grunted, then pushed myself off the couch. "All right, then." I looked over in the direction of the medbay and saw Ratchet glaring down at Soundwave, who was turning his head a little to the left and right, as though taking in his surroundings. Rhinox – and the other Maximals who lived on Earth – were nowhere to be seen, so I assumed that they were all out somewhere.

I made my way quickly around the platforms towards the medbay, causing Soundwave to turn his head sharply and track my movements – a little freaky, considering that he didn't have a face or eyes that I could track myself.

"He hasn't said anything yet, has he?" I asked as I came to a stop behind Ratchet.

"No." Ratchet's response was short and curt. "But I would guess that he has been considering his surroundings and has puled up a number of questions he never expects to be able to ask."

"Um, okay." I frowned. "Has anyone…said anything?"

"Do I look like someone who would be _willing_ to talk to him?" Ratchet snapped in reply.

"An' I ain't sayin' anythin' _yet,_ " Jazz called from the other side of the warehouse.

"Why not? The war's _over,_ remember? Cybertron's being rebuilt and Soundwave doesn't have the Decepticons to spy for." I folded my arms and frowned. "Besides, what we know is common knowledge by now, isn't it?"

Ratchet's frown deepened at that, but he said nothing.

"You might as well tell Soundwave yourself, Maria," Joshua called over from the recreation platform, where he was standing at the railing with Jack, Miko, Raf, and Nurse Darby. "I doubt the Autobots are going to feel like saying anything now."

 _"M-me?"_ My voice came out as a squeak at that. "A-are you sure?"

"Well, we certainly ain't planning on talking." Jazz replied.

I looked between Jazz, Ratchet, and Soundwave as all the focus in the warehouse remained on me. Then I shook my head and sighed. "All right. Just common knowledge stuff." I took in a breath and exhaled slowly. "Optimus died taking the AllSpark to Cybetron's core."

Soundwave shifted slightly at that, moving his head slightly.

"The only reason _that_ happened is because Unicron was going to _eat_ it or something – he possessed Megatron's body and was going to destroy Cybertron with it." I paused. "Which means Megatron's back from the dead, but he said the Decepticons were disbanded in the Autobots' presence. As far as I know, Shockwave's either dead or in hiding on the planet somewhere, Knock Out joined the Autobots, and Starscream is being used by the Predacons as a chew toy – there's three now; Shockwave managed to make two more before Unicron showed up, apparently."

I paused again, trying to gauge Soundwave's reaction. He wasn't really doing anything, so I kept going.

"Cybertron's being rebuilt right now. Iacon's pretty much done, and they're starting to spread out to Praxis and Kaon right now. The Autobots are apparently having trouble with a bunch of guys known as the Reforged, though – apparently, some of Shockwave's modified experiments got loose or something. I haven't run into them myself, but I _did_ see what Shockwave did to Lugnut's corpse, so…." I trailed off again.

" _This_ is news to me!" Ratchet turned and looked at me fully. "What is this about Shockwave's experiments?"

"Reforged," I repeated. "That's what they're calling themselves, anyway. Apparently. Like I said, I haven't seen any _living_ ones myself – I only heard about them yesterday because a Mini-Con named Thrill Check mentioned them. They've been causing a lot of trouble around Kaon and slowing down any reconstruction plans that might have been there. Wildfire's up there right now trying to find out where it is they're hiding, since they only apparently come out at night."

" _Living?"_

I jolted when I heard my own voice parroted back at me, but with some sound manipulation at the end to make it sound more like a question.

"Shockwave turned Lugnut's corpse into a walking missile launcher," I replied. "Wildfire, Sideswipe, and Sunstreaker just took it down yesterday in the former gladiator pits."

Ratchet recoiled. "By the AllSpark. You're kidding."

"Nope."

"Who's Lugnut?" Miko piped up in confusion.

"Former gladiator an' one a' Megatron's big muscle men durin' da war," Jazz explained grimly. "He was one hard-headed dude an' followed any orders 'e got. Sounds like 'e was told ta help Shockwave an' never got out o' that alive."

The kids exchanged looks at that, appearing uneasy. I couldn't blame them – not after what I'd seen up on Cybertron.

 _"Megatron living?"_ Soundwave pressed, getting my attention again. _"Starscream living? Knock Out living?"_

"Yes, I don't really know, and yes. Starscream was chased after by the Predacons and we haven't seen hide or hair of him since." I shrugged, then frowned. "Or, whatever the Cybertronian equivalent is of that."

 _"Optimus offline?"_

"Yes, I believe that's already been covered," Ratchet replied irritably.

"But _only_ because he'd absorbed the AllSpark into himself to keep Unicron from getting it," I added quickly. "Otherwise he'd still be around but Cybertron would be dead."

Soundwave didn't say anything for a moment, instead shifting a little and testing the bonds that kept him tied down on the berth. Then he settled back down again. _"Prisoner-request. See-Megatron."_

The combination of sound clips together caused the others to look back at him.

"Ultra Magnus will be arriving soon," Ratchet replied. "We'll…see to it that he knows."

"He's a stickler fer code," Jazz added. "You probably will."

Soundwave shifted his head so that he could look at Jazz, then turned to look up at the ceiling.

"I'm getting the feeling that he doesn't feel like doing anything else," I remarked.

"Or he's just waiting for us to say something else interesting," Joshua added.

"Maybe." I scratched my head, frowning. "He is still awake, right?"

"That's what my readings say," Ratchet replied, glancing over at the monitor that was on the wall.

"Okay." I nodded a little. "And when is Ultra Magnus getting here?"

"We should be receiving communication from him soon to open the Space Bridge." Ratchet looked somewhat annoyed. "I should warn you, he won't be standing for any sort of shenanigans on your part."

"Shenanigans?" I frowned. "What do you mean by that?"

"I mean that rebuilding Cybertron has become so much of a priority that he isn't about to handle any snarky words from any of you." Ratchet sent a pointed look to the others in the base. "And that goes for the rest of you, as well."

"I've seen what Magnus is like, Ratch'," Jazz replied, holding up a hand. "Ya don' need ta warn me."

"That may be, but I doubt that they would be able to say the same thing." Ratchet looked at the humans. "I would say the same for Agent Fowler, but he has not set foot in this base since the beginning of your new year."

"Really?" I blinked in surprise. "Why's that?"

"We don't know," Jack called over from the recreation platform. "He just up and left suddenly. He's been keeping in touch with Mom, but she hasn't said anything about where he's gone or what he's up to." He looked over at Nurse Darby, who shook her head.

"And I'm not about to say anything now," Nurse Darby added. "Fowler's just…taking a vacation."

"An absurdly long one," Miko muttered.

"That man had to deal with a secret alien war for well over five years; I think he deserves a break." Nurse Darby gave Miko a meaningful look, causing the Japanese girl to duck her head in response.

The interaction caused something to occur to me.

"Hey, Miko, how long are you an exchange student over here for?" I asked. "Or do you guys still have school for a couple weeks yet?"

"School let out last week, actually," Raf replied, adjusting his glasses.

" _Kaa-san_ and _Tou-san_ said they're fine with me spending part of the summer here," Miko added. "I mean, I miss my cats, but I definitely don't miss some of the stuff they would have been having me do over there. I'm not as prim and proper as they probably think I should be." She snorted.

"Definitely not," Joshua agreed dryly.

A shrill beeping noise came from the computer next to Ratchet suddenly, and he turned his head to look back at it.

"Ultra Magnus is going to be arriving shortly," Ratchet reported. "I have no doubt that he will have others with him who may not have seen Earth yet, so as a precaution I wouldn't recommend making yourselves noticed." He shot Miko a look, and she snorted and shrugged in response.

A large portal opened suddenly at the back of the base near the large, metal ring that had been built into the wall. Moments later, a large, red and blue mech with what looked like towers on his shoulders stepped through – Ultra Magnus, the leader of the Wreckers. He was followed by a mech with a rusty red paintjob – Ironhide, I remembered. The last time I'd seen him, he'd been helping gather together the fellow refugees who had stayed on Cybertron.

"Where is the prisoner?" Ultra Magnus asked stiffly.

"Over here," I called over, pointing towards Soundwave. "He said he wanted to see Megatron."

"He phrased it as a prisoner request," Joshua added as Ultra Magnus paused at Maria's statement.

The commander of the Wreckers frowned. "Well, if it is a request, according to the rules of war it should be able to be followed through on. But we will have to see whether or not Megatron himself is willing to make an appearance." He moved over to Soundwave as Ironhide looked between Maria and Joshua for a moment before spotting Jack, Miko, Raf, and Nurse Darby.

"So, these are humans, huh?" Ironhide moved a little closer to the recreation platform, eyebrows going up. "You don't look like you'd be able to do much."

"Hey!" Miko folded her arms across her chest and scowled. "I'll have you know that I killed an Insecticon! By _myself!_ We're tougher than we look."

"And Miko's a Wrecker, too," Jack added. "I wouldn't double-cross her."

"An Insecticon? You?" Ironhide looked at Miko with a more scrutinizing expression.

"She's got the Apex Armor too," I added.

"Ironhide," Ultra Magnus spoke up in an impatient tone. "If you would assist me, please, we are not here to simply dawdle and speak with the humans."

"Yeah, yeah." Ironhide snorted, then turned and looked at Soundwave as Ratchet started to undo the restraints. "So, this is Slenderman, huh? Still looks creepy. How many Mini-Cons has he got?"

"Just Laserbeak," Ratchet replied. "I can confirm that she is in stasis lock and attached to Soundwave's torso; I doubt that she will be awakening anytime soon." He finished deactivating the restraints, and Soundwave slid off the berth and rose to his feet quietly.

"Mini-Con _s_?" I repeated. "Soundwave had more than just one before?"

"And all of them were extremely dangerous," Ultra Magnus confirmed. He grabbed one of Soundwave's slim arms; the Decepticon didn't try to fight back as Ironhide grabbed his other one. "Be thankful that you did not have to deal with Rumble, Frenzy, Ratbat, or Ravage, even if you are small in stature and could very well have fought them one-on-one."

I blinked at that. "Rumble, Frenzy – wait, he had _five_ Mini-Cons? Whoa."

"A miniature army of trouble," Ironhide grumbled. He started towards the Space Bridge, Ultra Magnus and Soundwave moving into step with him.

"Don't forget about his request," Joshua added.

Ultra Magnus grunted. "Again, I will see what I can do, but I give no promises that he will accept Soundwave's request. And Ratchet, we may have need of you on Cybertron again soon; there are rogue Cybertronians causing trouble who may cause heavy damage to anyone who comes into conflict with them."

"Maria may have mentioned that you were having trouble," Ratchet replied with a snort. "If anything happens, be sure to contact me immediately."

"Of course." Ultra Magnus gave the medic a nod over his shoulder, then turned his head and looked over at me. "Wildfire has requested your assistance again, and Jolt is also looking for Joshua. Will you return to Cybertron?"

"Well, I don't see why not." I looked over at Joshua, who shrugged. "Is there anything in specific they need help for?"

"I believe she may have mentioned something about Mini-Cons."

My eyebrows shot up at that. "Hm. Now you've got my interest." I leapt over the railing as my hoverboard activated, landing on it as Joshua moved closer to the Space Bridge and jumped across the gap between platforms to Ironhide's shoulder, startling the red mech a little. "I mean, we've only met _one_ Mini-Con, so I'm kind of wondering how much of a help we're going to be at this point."

Ironhide grunted. "Wildfire's gotten different since the war. I'm not sure _what_ goes through her helm."

I shrugged.

Ultra Magnus cleared his throat. "We should get moving. I doubt that they will keep the Space Bridge open for much longer." He started moving forward, and Ironhide and Soundwave fell into step with him. I quickly moved to be hovering near Ultra Magnus as we passed through the Space Bridge, once again appearing on Cybertron's surface.

A familiar, blue-armored mech pulled a lever on the side of the Space Bridge gate, shutting the portal down. He turned to look at us and jumped a little when he saw that Soundwave had turned his head to look at him.

"He still looks as creepy as when he did last," the mech commented as Soundwave turned and looked away from him and over at Iacon. He turned his attention to Joshua, who leapt across the gap between the mech's and Ironhide's shoulders. "Anything new come up recently?"

"Just a thought that I should look into more," Joshua replied. "Considering that we have been exposed to different kinds of portal travel, I was considering studying dimensional mechanics as a side project."

"Alpha Trion might have something; we can stop by the Hall of Records on the way to my lab." The mech – Jolt, a friend of Wildfire's and ours – transformed down, letting Joshua slide off him as he shifted into his vehicle mode. Then Joshua climbed inside and Jolt drove off down towards the city.

"Where's Wildfire?" I asked, looking over at Ultra Magnus. I saw Soundwave turn his head to look over at me out of the corner of my eye, and I did my best to ignore him and the blank, featureless visor covering his face.

"She said she's be here," Ironhide muttered, looking around. "Where in the Pit is she?"

I paused at that, a slight feeling of _something_ starting to settle in my chest. "Something must be wrong. The last time I saw her, she was in Kaon with Sideswipe and Sunstreaker looking for the Reforged."

Soundwave inclined his head at that.

"Do you think that she could have been—"

"I don't know," Ironhide responded gruffly, cutting me off. "If those things did get her and forced her to try and send a decoy message so that they could capture you, they've got another thing coming."

I poured more energy into my hoverboard. "I'm going to the Hall of Records to find either Alpha Trion or Megatron."

Before either Ultra Magnus or Ironhide could respond, I shot across Cybertron's metallic landscape towards the domed city in the distance.

 **Uh oh. Sounds like we've got a little trouble.**

 **Whelp, it's gonna be a bit before I post a new chapter - NaNo and all that! I'll see you guys later!**


	19. Cybertron part 7

**Heh. I'd finished this chapter before November, so I may as well post it and let you guys know that I may be holding back on the next few chapters for the course of the month. Gotta work on getting that chapter count up!**

 **Shadescribe - I'm glad that you get what I'm saying about the Puppet AU. Yeah, that...isn't going to go away anytime soon. Especially since I have...plans. Yeah, Shockwave would be interested in her and want the Reforged to look into things, too; don't worry about the Quints, though - they're not going to pop up for a _while._ Certainly not in this particular set of events. Maria won't have to worry about dealing with them until she's had more experience overall. Heh heh.**

 **Anyway, here we go!**

 **Chapter 19**

 **Maria's POV**

Iacon in the early morning looked almost like a dead town. There was hardly anyone out on the streets, and anyone who was out took one look at me and froze as I shot past them, wide-eyed. I didn't know what was going through their heads at that point in time, and I didn't bother trying to stop and ask them as they quickly moved away from me and over to the other side of the street in order to avoid me.

If anything, they might have thought of me as a Mini-Con that might be out to cause some kind of mischief, but that thought was only vaguely floating around at the back of my mind.

It didn't take me too long to get to the Hall of Records. The door was barely open enough for me to slip through and zoom towards the stairs. The building was dark and the monitors on the desks were barely flickering; they probably weren't going to be used for a couple more hours.

"Flare-Up?"

I came to a halt at the top of the stairs at the curious, rasping voice, and turned my head in order to see where the voice had come from.

"What are you doing here?" Megatron stepped out of the shadows of a darkened hallway, the lights flickering. I guess the electronics weren't quite connected here yet.

"Something's wrong," I replied. "Ultra Magnus _said_ that Wildfire wanted to talk to me about some Mini-Cons, but she wasn't at the Space Bridge when we got here. Soundwave's here too, by the way – he's probably going to come by here with Ultra Magnus and Ironhide."

"Soundwave?" Megatron's eyes widened. Then he frowned. "Wildfire hasn't reported in from Kaon since yesterday. Neither have Sideswipe or Sunstreaker. The other Autobots have become somewhat nervous about it."

I blinked at that, somewhat wide-eyed. "They haven't – do you think—"

"Possibly," Megatron replied. "I would not put it past Shockwave's experiments to be interested in someone with Spark-given abilities such as the ones she and her allies have been known to have." He paused. "He was curious about how their Sparks were able to generate such abilities; he spent a large amount of time with Jolt attempting to figure that out, if I recall."

My eyes widened at that, and my mouth stretched out into a straight line. "I knew that he'd been messed with by Shockwave, but I didn't know _that_! No wonder he was so terrified of him!" I drifted back a little, debating shooting down the stairs or barreling into Alpha Trion's room in order to find another Cybertronian in order to get me down to Kaon.

"I don't like this." I shook my head. "I've got to get to Kaon and _find Wildfire_ as soon as possible. There's _something_ about all this that just _screams_ unease."

The door slammed open below suddenly. "Megatron!"

I turned and looked down as Ultra Magnus stepped into the Hall of Records, followed shortly by Soundwave and Ironhide.

"I know you're here, Megatron!" Ultra Magnus called. "We have a visitor for you."

Megatron moved closer to the stairs, causing Soundwave to look up at us.

"I'm aware," Megatron replied. "Flare-Up is quite quick in the arrival and giving of news." He started down to the first floor, and I followed after him, keeping my hoverboard at an even height with Megatron's square-shaped shoulders. "She wants to go to Kaon to find Wildfire. I would be more than willing to take her there myself."

"And let her possibly be taken by the Reforged?" Ultra Magnus responded as we reached the first floor. "I doubt that Wildfire would approve of such an idea."

"If she's _missing,_ then I think that anything she'd have to say on that would be moot," I replied flatly. "You guys mentioned something about the Mini-Cons, right? They know the ins and outs of Kaon better than anyone else who might happen to be there. If I talk to them, I bet they can show me secret passages or _something_ that could get me close to the Reforged base so that I could find Wildfire."

"But how would ya get _out?"_ Ironhide asked, frowning.

I paused at that. "Uh…."

"You are extremely reckless," Ultra Magnus said, frowning at me with disapproval.

 _"Secret passages – hidden – findable – know them."_

We all turned to look at Soundwave at his pieced-together messages.

 _"Mini-Cons – know them,"_ Soundwave added. _"Lazerbeak – has – data."_

Ironhide frowned at Soundwave. "What makes you think we can trust that yer not gonna double-cross us?"

"Soundwave may be a former senator who joined the gladiators, Ironhide, but that does not make him any less honorable," Megatron replied. "I trust him far more than I would trust Starscream."

"But you had him as your second in command," Ultra Magnus pointed out.

"Because he was ambitious. Too ambitious, I admit, but I was able to keep him in line to a degree." Megatron inclined his head. "Such as the Predacons are keeping him in line, for example."

Soundwave inclined his head as well.

"I know my way around Kaon well, and while I did take advantage of Shockwave's experiments, that does not necessarily mean that I approved of all of them in private. There are many Decepticons that he 'borrowed' from my troops only to never return them."

"Like Lugnut," I noted.

"Exactly so." Megatron's voice dropped a couple octaves.

Ultra Magnus frowned. "If you are suggesting that you go to Kaon _alone_ —"

"Would it be too much to ask if Flare-Up could accompany me?" Megatron rebutted.

I looked at him in surprise. "You'd – really?"

Megatron looked over at me with slightly-raised eyebrows. "I would like to meet these Reforged and see how much of a challenge they really are, and I doubt that letting the captured Autobots be trapped there any longer than they already have been would be all that wise."

I hadn't expected something like that, much less from the former leader of the Decepticons who had been _against_ me just last summer.

"I dunno," Ironhide muttered, frowning. "This sounds like a bad idea."

"It's a bad idea leaving Wildfire and the twins out there by themselves," I responded. I was about to keep going with what _exactly_ I thought about our situation when _something_ settled into my head and caused me to get a rather nasty headache. I grunted and rubbed at my left temple as my vision wavered.

 _"You really think that I'm one of you? Think again, you Pit-spawned freak!"_

 _"Oh, a stubborn one, eh? Don't worry. We'll have things fixed soon enough…."_

"…kid! Hey, kid!"

I shook my head as my vision came back into focus and the voices faded. "Megatron, I think I'll take you up on your offer. Wildfire's in danger, and we need to find her _now."_

Ultra Magnus and Ironhide exchanged looks while Megatron's eyes widened.

"You were contacted by her?" Megatron guessed.

"Vision." I tapped the side of my head as the headache faded. "World Jumper thing. I need me a Ground Bridge to Kaon _stat._ "

Soundwave's visor lit up with something that looked similar to the monitor in the Earth base. _"Where?"_

"The outskirts," Megatron replied quickly. "We don't want to attract too much attention from them. Depending on what they may have done with Wildfire, they may already be aware of Flare-Up's presence and may be considering taking her as well."

Ultra Magnus looked between the two of them with an expression of disapproval. "Soundwave, you are at this point in time considered to be a prisoner of war."

 _"War – over,"_ Soundwave pointed out. _"Cybertron – reborn. Decepticons – no more."_

"If you're trying to say something, then stop using those audio clips and spit it out!" Ironhide snapped.

The image on Soundwave's visor faded.

"Soundwave swore a vow of silence," Megatron said, frowning. "I doubt that he is about to break that now."

I frowned. "I dunno…I think he _might_ have broken it when we caught him before. I'm not sure though."

Megatron turned his head to look at me in confusion. "I highly doubt that Soundwave would do such a thing."

Soundwave inclined his head. "War: _over._ New danger: Reforged. Proposition: combine forces. Soundwave: remain here as prisoner."

Ironhide _jumped_ when he heard Soundwave's dark, rasping voice. Ultra Magnus turned his head sharply to look at the Decepticon while Megatron and I stiffened.

"W-well, there you have it," I said. "So…we going?"

"We are going," Megatron confirmed. "Soundwave?"

Soundwave nodded, then created a Ground Bridge next to him. Megatron ran through it instantly, and I quickly moved a second later to follow after him, even as Ultra Magnus and Ironhide yelled at us to get back to the Hall of Records.

We came out of the Ground Bridge right outside of Kaon. Somehow, the tall, dark towers looked even _more_ ominous than they had when I had come to the city yesterday with Wildfire and Joshua.

"Something definitely feels wrong here," I muttered.

"It isn't Dark Energon," Megatron said, causing me to look at him sharply. "The planet has been purified of that. This is something else."

"Probably got something to do with the Reforged." I summoned my Buster. "The problem is, where are we going to find them and what are we going to do about them?"

"No way!"

Megatron and I looked down at the sound of the voice, and my eyebrows shot up when I caught sight of a Mini-Con standing in front of us with red and black armor.

"Megatron!" the Mini-Con stared up at Megatron with what I guessed was amazement – his eyes were hidden behind a visor like Jazz's, so I wasn't able to see how wide they were.

"Rumble," Megatron said with surprise in his voice. "I had not expected to see you again."

"Rumble?" I muttered under my breath, frowning. There was something about the name that was – oh, yeah! He was one of the Mini-Cons who worked with Soundwave!

"Yeah, the same ta you," Rumble replied. "I didn't think the Autobots would leave you alive after they'd won the war – or so _they_ say, anyway." The red and black Mini-Con huffed.

"There have been casualties on both sides, but as I have declared the Decepticons disbanded, I believe that would leave the Autobots the victor," Megatron said. "The simply haven't decided on what they could do with those of us who fought against them yet."

"You mean they're still thinking about offlining us," Rumble said flatly. "Great."

"I hope this gets settled with minimal Energon shed," I spoke up quickly. "Right now, though, we've got other problems."

Rumble turned his head to look at me. "What in the Pit are you?"

"A being from Earth," Megatron replied.

"The Autobots call me Flare-Up," I added. I looked at the city worriedly. "Look, we've got a problem and it's called the Reforged. They've got Wildfire, Sideswipe, and Sunstreaker, and I'm not about to let them get away with doing anything to them."

" _Wildfire?"_ Rumble's head jerked back a little in what I guessed was surprise. "She up and poofed during the war, though! Are you sayin' she's _back_?"

"Yeah, and we need to rescue her _now_ or else who knows _what_ those Reforged are gonna do!" I shot back. "I know they've been causing you guys problems, too – Thrill Check told me yesterday when Wildfire and the twins took out Lugnut's corpse!"

"You know your way around this city well," Megatron said. "You know of the secret passageways that remain and connect the city together out of sight. Take Maria and go find their base; I will follow above ground as best I can and provide backup for you when you reach the Reforged."

"Do you realize what you're sayin'?" Rumble asked. " _Nobody_ wants to go _near_ those creeps – it's too close to the underground and the who knows what that happens to be living down there!"

I swooped down and glared at Rumble eye-to-eye, causing him to take a slight step back at the sudden move. "Look, these guys are Shockwave's monsters. I'd rather not let him leave a legacy behind that can do who knows _what_ to the planet. If they can go in deep and maybe get access to the core, then Cybertron's in big trouble. We have to stop them _now."_

Rumble seemed uncertain at that, and he looked up at Megatron for a moment before looking back at me. After a moment, he nodded. "All right, fine. I'll show ya the tunnel network, but that doesn't mean I'm gonna help you at all beyond that."

"I'm sure I'll think of something," I replied. Flames danced on my fingertips as my mind whirled. "I've taken on creatures that could be counted as demigods before, and I can call on at least a couple friends for help. Just get me in the area so that I can see what the damage is."

Rumble seemed doubtful at that, but he looked up at Megatron again and motioned for me to follow him. "They're all gonna be hidin' somewhere, Boss, so if you wanna draw them out and test them a little, ya gotta make some noise."

"I should think that I am more than capable of doing such a thing." There was a dark tone to Megatron's voice – almost as though he was grinning widely in a bloodthirsty manner. "I certainly don't want to become _rusty,_ after all."

Woe to any Cybertronian who happened to cross _his_ path.

Rumble grinned, then turned and started into the city. I followed after him on my hoverboard, since Mini-Cons are still bigger than humans and I would have had to run in order to keep up.

"So, you're from Earth, huh?" Rumble asked we started moving past the towers. He started scanning the area, seeming to be looking for something – maybe Reforged spying on us?

"Yeah." I nodded, feeling slightly wary. "Why are you curious about that?"

"What in the Pit is so special about that stupid planet?" Rumble responded. "I mean, it's just a hunk of rock with a bunch of weak-armored aliens, right? This stuff doesn't look like it grew with you." He rapped against my right arm, not at all dissuaded by the fact that I had my Buster active.

"I'm…different. I used to be one thing, but I got changed into something else in order to keep on living. And no, humans aren't born with armor like this, but that doesn't mean that we're completely defenseless." I grinned. "I have it on good authority that a friend of mine was able to off an Insecticon using Cybertronian tech without even knowing entirely what buttons she was pressing."

Rumble turned his head and stared at me. "An Insecticon. You serious?"

"Yeah. Miko knows how to use the Apex Armor, too. Khrista told me she took on three Vehicons at once and really gave Starscream a good scare." I grinned. "Kinda makes me wish I'd been there to see the look on his face when he realized he could have been curb stomped by a human adolescent. Heh."

"How big are—"

"On average, humans are as tall as I am. Which means that most people are shorter than you."

Rumble made a noise that sounded like he wasn't expecting that. "Yer serious? Man, the Cybertronians must've really terrified the locals!"

"Most of them aren't aware of them, actually," I admitted. "It's only some high-up people and a couple families who stumbled upon them by accident. Mine included." I grinned sheepishly. "Only because I got to know Wildfire before I got involved."

"Huh." Rumble paused, then moved closer to the corner of one of the towers near us. "Okay; here's the entrance." He pushed against a part of the wall, and it gave way as a small hole opened next to it. "You might want to get off your ride, kid."

I stepped off my hoverboard, then felt it connect with my back as I moved towards the entrance. Rumble made a noise in response to the sight, and I raised an eyebrow at him.

"What? I can't transform into a vehicle, so I had to have that gadget added to me." I jabbed a thumb at the folded-up hoverboard on my back. "And yes, I have a subspace, but my hoverboard needs to recharge, too, so I let it siphon some energy off me. It doesn't take much to run."

Rumble made another noise that sounded more like a grunt. Then he motioned with his head for me to get into the opening, and I stepped through. He followed after me and closed the opening up behind him, leaving us in near-complete darkness.

I summed a small flame onto my palm so that I'd be able to see a little bit better, causing Rumble's head to turn at the sight as he moved past me and down the tunnel.

"You're like a mini Wildfire, huh?" Rumble noted. "Can all humans do that?"

"Nah. I'm special." I stood a little straighter.

Rumble snorted. "Special, huh? I'd like to see how much."

"Well, if we're gonna rescue Wildfire—"

"We?" Rumble stopped and turned to look at me, frowning. "Listen kid, as much as we hate the Reforged, that doesn't mean we're gonna help. Those guys would sooner step on us than even consider us a threat, and I'm not about to let myself get caught just so that they can pull a Shockwave on _me,_ thank you very much. I'm sure that the rest of the Minis would say the same thing, too, considering how much the rest of 'em were used by the Big Guys."

"You're saying that you weren't?" I frowned.

Rumble snorted. "Course not. Soundwave treated us well."

I frowned. "Well, Soundwave sent us here, and I don't think he'd appreciate it if you turned down helping Megatron."

Rumble stiffened, then turned to look at me slowly. "You're serious."

I nodded. "Yeah. Soundwave's in Iacon."

Rumble stared at me with a disbelieving expression. "You're serious."

"Yup."

Rumble blinked, then straightened up. "All right, fine! We're taking a quick detour!" He turned and started running down the corridor. I started running after him, but then had to jump onto my hoverboard in order to keep up.

"To where?" I demanded, frowning.

"Where else? We gotta see if there's anyone else who might wanna take these goons down! I can certainly think of a few!" Rumble shot me a grin.

I blinked in surprise, then grinned back and nodded. "Okay!"

"You'd better make sure that you can keep up, kid! I don't want to leave you behind!"

"Oh, I can keep up!" I leaned forward as Rumble sped up, causing my hoverboard to keep up with him. "We've gotta move anyway – Wildfire might not have much time!"

"Then let's go!"

 **Hey, a familiar face! And yes, I'm going the "Rumble is RED, Frenzy is BLUE" route. I know the controversy around it, but that's the one I feel comfortable with. Meh.**

 **Anyway, next chapter you guys are gonna get isn't going to pop up for a while - I do have it done, but I'd like to get more chapters written over the course of NaNo before I** **start posting again. I like a little buffer between me and you guys so that you can get regular updates when I'm not quite up at my game.**

 **So...I may post next week. I may not. We'll have to see. ;)**

 **I'll see you next time!**


	20. Cybertron part 8

**Seven chapters in just as many days. 26K.**

 **...whoa. I'm really on a roll with NaNo this year! But I'm not done by a long shot with this story yet - probably not even halfway done, even!**

 **Shadescribe - We're lucky this month that my inspiration and my speed are in sync! I can actually update at a decent time! And yeah, Megatron's definitely intrigued by what Maria could be capable of. Unfortunately, we won't be able to get to see too much of him in the next couple of** **chapters. It's all focusing on what Maria's gonna be up to. :)**

 **So let's get down to some more Maria and Mini-Con interactions! Here we go!**

 **And before I forget - anything in bold in the chapter is Cybertronian. Just so that none of you get confused or anything.**

 **Chapter 20**

 **Maria's POV**

It actually didn't take us all that long to get to where the rest of the Mini-Cons in Kaon were hiding. At least, it felt that way to me – the tunnel we were in was a pretty long one, and it didn't branch off in different directions. Rumble kept muttering something under his breath in Cybertronian about how he was glad that the "other residents" weren't out using the tunnels, either – whatever that meant.

I couldn't help but get the feeling that there were some things that even Cybertronians might have been afraid of on their own planet, which was an odd idea to try and wrap my head around.

We came to a short stop after a few minutes in front of a large door that looked like it belonged in front of a bank safe.

"All right." Rumble looked over at me as I stepped off my hoverboard. "I don't think that you're going to be able to get much help, since we really don't want to get on the Reforged's bad side at this point. Can't exactly take them out, either."

"Big things come in small packages," I replied. "Humans can sometimes surprise their larger opponents. Something tells me you're just underestimating what exactly it is that you're capable of."

Rumble frowned, then he shook his head and turned the handle on the door, pulling it open while muttering, "Humans must be weird aliens."

I simply rolled my eyes as the door opened, then slipped in through the crack when Rumble motioned me forward.

The room on the other side of the door looked like a giant hub of some kind. There were doors similar to the ones I'd just come through scattered around the giant, circular room at regular intervals. And there were _tons_ of Mini-Cons milling about. They all looked like shrunken-down versions of the Cybertronians I had seen already, just with different colors and…skinnier. Less armored.

A number of them looked over in our direction as Rumble closed the door behind us.

"If you want, the one that leads to their place is over there." Rumble pointed across the room. I followed his fingers and noticed that there was a door on the other side of the room with a large number of steel beams leaning against it – probably meant to be a barricade of some kind.

I nodded. "Thanks." Then I started forward into the crowd of Mini-Cons, who stopped murmuring among themselves and turned to look at me. Some moved in front of me, blocking my path.

A blue Mini-Con who looked almost exactly like Rumble moved in front of me. "And who are you?"

"Flare-Up," I replied. "From Earth."

"What are you doing here?" a Mini-Con with wings on her back stepped forward, frowning at me and putting her hands on her hips.

"I'm going to the Reforged base to rescue my friend Wildfire," I replied without missing a beat.

The entire group stepped back out of alarm at my words.

"You have _got_ to be kidding," the blue Rumble-lookalike said flatly. "Are you nuts?"

"Nope. Just determined." I moved forward a step. "Now, if you'll excuse me, I've gotta get over there before they do who knows what to her. If you guys want to come with and help, go ahead. I'm getting the feeling that they wouldn't be able to hold for long against us if we all went at them at once, but I've got Megatron causing a ruckus up there right now and I'd rather not keep him waiting for too long."

The Mini-Cons looked at each other at that, hesitant and surprised. The murmuring started up again, then, nervous and concerned.

I felt a twinge of something at the back of my mind, and I heard a scream of _someone_ that sounded similar to a battle cry that I might have heard Wildfire yell once or twice. "Look, I _have_ to go! They're doing something to Wildfire and I am _not_ about to simply stand by and let them get away with it! If you think that you guys can stand in my way and keep me from getting to my friend and finding a way for her to get out, you've got another thing coming!"

I backflipped onto my hoverboard and shot up into the air above the Mini-Cons, getting loud gasps of surprise in response to the movement before I shot across the room towards the barricaded door…only to get nearly cut off by a large, bat-like Mini-Con that hovered in front of me. His eyes seemed to be carrying some sort of sense of disapproval.

 **"Going against the Reforged is suicide,"** the bat said.

I snorted. **"I've fought creatures that have had control over time and space before and survived. I'm not so much scared of these guys as I am scared for what they're gonna do to Wildfire. Let me pass."**

The bat didn't move out of my way, even when I drifted to the right and left. **"You should be scared of them. They will take you and use you, just as they used us."**

 **"I'm not a Mini-Con,"** I replied.

The bat sighed. **"Regardless, they will make use of you. If they have taken Wildfire, then they intend to break her and bring her over to their side. No doubt the process has already begun."**

 **"Which is why I need to get over there now!"** My hands exploded with flames. **"So** ** _let me pass!_** **I will** ** _not_** **let her experience what** ** _I had to go through at the hands of Dr. Wily!"_**

My exclamation caused the entire hub to fall silent again.

"Dr. Wily?" repeated Rumble from below.

"Crazy old man who thought that I was just another m-mindless drone he could reprogram t-to…." I shuddered and shook my head.

It had only been about a _year_ since that had happened to me. I still had nightmares, but not as often, but I definitely didn't want to think about it – especially considering that I had gone up against Wily _again_ after that and then there was the thing with _Brainiac_ and—

Well. Let's just say that I didn't want to think about it. Especially since Wildfire might end up going through the exact same thing.

"L-look. Just let me by, okay? If you want to help me get Wildfire from…whatever it is that the Reforged are going to do, then you can come with me." I looked at the bat Mini-Con again.

The bat hesitated for a moment, then drifted to one side and lowered to the crowd of Mini-Cons below us. Then I shot over to the barricaded opening and landed on the ground in front of it. As soon as my hoverboard had attached itself to my back, I wrapped my arms around one of the bars, and _heaved._

The bar groaned as I started to move it, clearly reluctant to let me pull it out of the way, but it eventually gave in when I pulled it forward and it fell to one side.

 _CLAAAANNNNGG!_

I winced and jumped back when the bar collided with the floor of the base, creating a deafening sound that caused the entire room to vibrate as the sound bounced around the room before it finally faded.

"Yeesh." I shook my head, slapping at my ears with the palms of my hands while trying to get the ringing out of my ears. Then I moved onto the next bar and started to move it, as well.

The second bar was about to come crashing to the floor again when another figure stepped forward suddenly and caught the bar effortlessly.

"You're not very strong, are you?" asked the Mini-Con – a blue and purple femme who had wheels on her limbs.

"Humans aren't strong on their own, but when they work together, they can accomplish anything," I replied as we lowered the bar to the ground. "I used to be human, but I was transformed into what I am now in order to have my life saved."

"Human?" the Mini-Con repeated.

"An organic species." I started to the next bar. "We're stubborn, creative, and can be really dangerous if you happen to get on our bad side." I wrapped my arms around the third bar and started pulling again. "Megatron _horribly_ underestimated those of us who worked with the Autobots on Earth during the war!"

The Min-Con snorted. "Organics? Being _under_ estimated? I find that hard to believe. Organics are weak, aren't they? They have no armor or built-in weapons."

"True, but that doesn't mean that we're completely defenseless. One of my friends is an adolescent who managed to get her hands on the Apex Armor and is able to clobber Vehicons pretty well. She also knows how to work the missile systems in Cybertronian shuttles and killed an Insection with it." I yanked the iron bar out of place and the Mini-Con was barley able to catch it. I looked over at her and noticed that she had a blank look of surprise on her face.

"Killed an _Insecticon?"_ another Mini-Con spoke up. "Are you serious?"

"Yup. I wasn't there, though – kinda wish I had been." I laughed a little. "Miko's pretty awesome that way. I wouldn't want to get on her bad side."

There came more murmurs from the crowd of Mini-Cons as I moved to the last bar and moved it out of the way of the door, the Mini-Con who was helping me catching it before it collided with the floor, then moving back into the crowd.

I cracked my knuckles and rubbed my hands together as I looked at the door in front of me. "All right. Time to get in there and get Wildfire out." I grabbed the wheel and turned it, intent to open the door and get into the tunnel beyond it.

 _Screeeee!_

I winced at metal grated on metal, but I kept going, turning the wheel on the door. "Come on, come on, come on…gotta get this stupid thing _open!"_

The door started creaking open as I tugged on the wheel, moving like it had rusted hinges – which, since Cybertron didn't exactly have any oxygen molecules like Earth's atmosphere did, probably meant that the metal up _here_ wasn't like metal that could be found on _Earth._ Obviously.

I got the door open far enough to let me slip through, then turned and looked back at the Mini-Cons. They were all staring at me with unreadable expressions, like they didn't know what it was that I was going to do and whether or not they should join in.

"If you guys want to help, be my guest," I said, looking around at the crowd. I spotted the bat in the middle of the crowd, watching me with an odd expression. "But I'm going anyway. I'm not going to let anyone else fall under someone else's mind control. Not while my soul is still bound to my core."

With that, I turned and bolted into the tunnel without another word, summoning my fire so that I'd be able to see where it was that I was going.

This tunnel didn't looked like it branched off anywhere, either, which for me I considered it to be a good thing. Especially since I didn't know anything about these underground tunnels and all I wanted to do was get to Wildfire and keep her from losing her mind.

"You're not gonna suffer from that nightmare," I muttered to myself. "Not now, and not ever."

I jumped onto my hoverboard and shot forward even more quickly. "I just hope that I'm not going to get there too late!"

I heard the screeching of tires behind me. "Hey, wait!"

I turned my head when I heard the voice, slowing down only slightly as a blue and purple car drove up behind me – the same Mini-Con who had helped me move the iron bars away from the door.

"I want to help." The Mini-Con quickly caught up with me as I kept going on my hoverboard. "My name's Seek; I know my way around that base like the back of my servo. If you're looking for your friend, I can show you where she's probably going to be."

"With talk like that, you could possibly lead me into a trap," I replied, frowning.

"I'm not!" Seek swerved a little. "The Reforged used us like – like mindless drones. They just saw us as objects to get energy boosts from and ways to get intel on hidden bases that the Dinobots and Wreckers had in the area before they moved on. That's why we left them."

I considered what Seek had said, frowning, then nodded. "All right. Lead the way."

Seek moved ahead of me, and I kept pace with her by staying right above her taillights. "How do you know that your friend was captured? What kind of reason would they have for it?"

"Wildfire was a gladiator before the war," I replied. "She _knows_ Kaon like the back of her servo, and she's an excellent fighter. She's also able to throw fire around like it's second nature." I motioned to the Will o' Wisp floating in the air next to me. "And she did say to me that Shockwave was interested in experimenting with how her ability worked…."

"It's _that_ Wildfire? I thought she disappeared!"

"It's a long story that I don't have time to tell right now; maybe later, when we don't have to worry about losing my friend!"

"All right, all right! Getting angry isn't going to get us anywhere!" Seek pushed ahead a little; maybe me hovering over her tailpipe made her uncomfortable. "If it really _is_ Wildfire, then they're gonna try to turn her over to their side – probably with words first, and then…."

"She's too stubborn; she's not going to listen to words."

"Then she's going to get programs put in place that are going to make her think differently."

I didn't like the sound of that. "That's what I'm worried _is_ happening."

"Then we don't have much time. If she's as stubborn as she's been portrayed in her fights, then the program shouldn't stick. The program works best on Cybertronians who have been experimented on already by Shockwave, so if they think that she's a Shockwave runaway, then they're going to think that the program's gonna stick in places where it won't."

"That doesn't do much to make me feel better," I replied flatly. "The program that was used on _me_ wasn't supposed to _work_ on me and it still _did_. I'd rather not take any chances when it comes to what _this_ program could do to my friend's head!"

"Well, you're fine now, right?"

"Yeah, but not like I used to be!" I ducked as a metal pipe that was coming across the roof of the tunnel shot over my head. "That kind of thing leaves scars, if you're not aware."

"I'm not expecting it not to," Seek replied. "Wildfire's going to be OK, but if the program _is_ in her processor by the time we reach the Reforged base, then it's going to take some work to reverse it. The Dinobots had some problems with it before, from what I heard, but they were able to knock some sense back into their friend. You should be able to do the exact same thing."

Seek's words made me blink in surprise. " _Dinobots?_ " I shook my head. "No; that's not important now, I'll ask around about that later. But how do you know that _Wildfire_ is going to come out unscathed?"

"Call it…what's the word in this language we're using – intuition?"

"Women's intuition," I repeated flatly. "The same intuition that's telling me to _speed up_ or else Wildfire's really gonna be in for it."

"Your species' intuition must be different from mine, then," Seek responded. "Watch your head."

I ducked down as more pipes appeared in the roof of the tunnel; I moved down into a crouch on my hoverboard behind Seek as the tunnel decreased in size as a result. "How close are we?"

"Close. We're moving a lot faster through these than we normally would, but we're going to have to slow down and be quiet when we reach our destination. The Reforged are going to notice your little flaming friend up there, too, so I wouldn't suggest keeping it around."

"I won't. This is just so that I can see while we're in here; I don't have night vision."

Seek's engine revved a little, and she started to pull back – no, slow down. I pulled back on my hoverboard's speed, in order to avoid running into her vehicle mode. "We're almost there. Snuff your light."

I hesitated, but then I reached for the Will o' Wisp that was hovering above my head; it zipped to my hand and allowed me to snuff it out by clenching my hand into a fist, leaving only the light from Seek's head and taillights to light the tunnel.

That wasn't the only light that we had for long, however.

The tunnel widened as light poured in; Seek slowed to a stop behind a wall of pipes and transformed into her humanoid form; I moved up behind her, still on my hoverboard.

Seek peered around the wall of pipes, then pulled back quickly. "Scrap. We've got company."

"You mean there's someone out there?" I raised an eyebrow.

"Yeah. Looks like the Reforged are expecting us to come back; there's a biggie out there with a net. D-don't look! You're going to get his attention."

I pulled back from the edge of the wall of pipes, frowning. "Well, what are we gonna do? I'm not gonna leave Wildfire alone!"

"I know you're not. Just…just give me a moment to think about what we could do to draw him away from the exit."

Seek peered around again, cerulean blue optics focusing on whatever it was on the other side of the wall of pipes. "The biggie looks like he's been there for a while, but I can't tell whether or not he's in a light recharge."

"How can you tell?" I asked, keeping my voice low.

"Our optics flicker, like we can't keep them active. But this guy's got his covered."

I frowned at that. "Hm." I moved up as high as I dared and pulled my hair back with one hand so that it wouldn't end up hitting Seek in the face when I peered around the wall of pipes.

I instantly caught sight of what looked like a gigantic metal butterfly net being held in the hands of a dark red mech with an opaque visor that probably was more like a blindfold over his face.

Experimentally, I summoned a small bit of fire on the tip of one of my fingers and shot it towards the mech.

Seek grabbed me and yanked me back. "What do you think you're—"

The mech moved suddenly, creating a creaking, scraping noise of metal on metal for a moment, but then the noise stopped abruptly.

"I was trying to see if he'll react!" I hissed back, cutting the Mini-Con off. "If he's got infared vision, then he's going to notice our body heat more than anything else!" I peered out, noticing that the mech had only moved slightly, as though he was about to swat something off his nose. "He's probably thinking that there might be something on his nose right now, but he can't _see_ it, so he's not going to risk swatting it unless he sees another puff of something."

Seek stared at me at that, blinking slowly as though she wasn't entirely sure of what exactly it was that I had just said.

"I can cause a distraction," I said. "I can throw fire in that guy's face, but then we're gonna have to _move._ Do you trust me?"

Seek blinked sharply at that. "I'm not sure whether I _should._ But considering the situation you've gotten us into because you want to rescue your friend, something tells me I don't have a choice."

I nodded slightly in response. "Okay. I'm going to throw a large blast of fire at him. When I do, we're gonna have to get away as fast as we can and find a hiding place before we can keep moving, right?"

Seek looked uncertain, but she nodded slightly. "That was the idea, yes. I know of a number of secret passages here – let's just hope that they haven't been sealed off."

"Right; okay." I cracked my knuckles again and rubbed them together while focusing my power; flames licked at my fingers as the heat started to build up.

Then my hand shot out, and a burst of flames about as big as me exploded out from our hiding place, smacking the mech in the face.

"Go!" Seek burst out and transformed into her vehicle form as the mech reeled back, flames licking at his face as an inhuman screech ripped out of his throat. I quickly shot off after Seek, zooming across what looked like the floor of a large, abandoned hangar before disappearing into a crack in the wall that opened up into a small crawl space that I could barely stand upright in.

I slipped off my hoverboard as Seek transformed and peered out through the crack. "Did that do it?"

Seek nodded slowly. "Yeah…that actually did. I can't believe that worked." She looked over at me. "How'd you figure out he had infared vision?"

I rubbed the back of my head. "Well, his visor looked more opaque than Jazz's, so I figured that he had to be using some other way to see what was going on around him. Infared was my first instinct." I looked around in the crawlspace. "So, where to now? We gotta find Wildfire, remember?"

"Yeah, I remember." Seek backed away from the crack on her knees. "She's probably going to be in the torture chambers…which'll be this way." She started crawling through the tunnel behind us; I turned and followed after her.

"I hope we get there in time," I muttered under my breath.

"You and me both," Seek responded. "If Wildfire is as dangerous as she was before, then we don't want her on their side for even a moment."

I nodded in agreement, vaguely remembering what had happened with Wily. I quickly pushed the memory out of my mind, though.

No way was I going to let Wildfire go through what I did.

 **Heh heh. Maria's made a new friend!**

 **I should be able to post next week with the next chapter - as well as an update on how my word count's going for this month. At the rate that I'm going, I hope to be done with the arc that I'm working on now before Thanksgiving - which certainly seems to be doable.**

 **I'll see you next week!**


	21. Cybertron part 9

***Dark laughter is heard...***

 _ **I hit 50K tonight.**_ **So I'm posting a chapter in celebration!** **Maybe I'll post another this week just because too; who knows?**

 **All I know is I'll be writing chapter 34 tomorrow and I've got a _huge_ buffer zone between me and you guys. ;)**

 **Shadescribe - yup! Cybertronians are basically just robots with souls (just...don't say that to their face. 'Robot' is kinda a derogatory term in some contexts). So of course their minds can be messed with. Humans can be messed with that way too - brainwashing and conditioning do exist, after all.**

 **Taeniaea - Thanks! And I hope so, too. We should find out if they get to her or not this chapter, even!**

 **So here we go!**

 **Chapter 21**

 **Maria's POV**

Seek filled me in on where exactly we were as we made our way through the crawlspace between the walls of the base.

It turned out that the Reforged base used to be some kind of factory in Kaon – since the entire city was pretty much a mining community, it'd make sense that they'd manufacture things here, too. At least, some of the time – most of the equipment was used for smelting.

Megatron had apparently turned the place into one giant torture chamber. Then Shockwave took it over for experimentation.

Yeah. Not the best thing to hear when you want to rescue your friend.

"So where's Wildfire going to be in this place?" I asked, trying not to think about what Megatron _could_ have done to the Autobots he had captured during the war here.

"Probably where they used to manufacture weapons. We're not far from there." Seek glanced back at me and almost stopped when she saw the look I had on my face: wide eyes, somewhat pale, and my jaw clenched as I gnawed on my lower lip a little. "Hey. Where was that brave face you had a little bit ago when we took on that biggie, huh?"

I shook my head and stopped biting my lip. "S-sorry, it's just – I don't want Wildfire to go through what I did."

Seek looked like she was going to say something, but then she shook her head and focused back on what was ahead of us. "Your friend's going to be fine. Let's just get to the main part of that part of the base so that you can take care of this mess."

I nodded in response. "R-right. How far is it?" I tried to bring back the determination I'd had when we first arrived, but thinking about the situation that Wildfire was in was making it difficult.

"Not much longer. If I'm remembering right, that break in the tunnel wall up ahead should get us to where your friend is." Seek nodded up to a crack of light that was slipping in through the tunnel wall to our left. It seemed to be flickering, almost as though there was something moving back and forth in front of it.

I took in a deep breath and exhaled slowly. Since getting _into_ the base had been hardly difficult at all, getting _out_ of it was _definitely_ going to be a real doozy. Especially since we were going to be bringing Wildfire with us.

 **"...shouldn't be taking this long for her processor to accept the program!"** a Cybertronian was saying as Seek and I came to a stop in front of the break in the wall. **"Something must be wrong with your technology if she's even remotely capable of rejecting it, Mindwarp!"**

 **"Shut it!"** another voice hissed. **"This one has far more will than the Dinobot Swoop; we haven't found her perfect match to lure her over to our side. Are you certain there is nothing in the database concerning a mech who would be capable of matching Project Wildfire strength for strength?"**

 **"I've checked it multiple times since the first rejection! There's nothing!"**

 **"Well check again! Maybe there's something that we missed."**

 **"Like maybe the fact that Wildfire isn't a project in the first place?"** I muttered under my breath, slipping into Cybertronian myself.

Seek looked back at me with an odd expression, then returned her gaze to the crack as the talking continued.

 **"All right, all right. But she'd better be under the next time I come back – and** ** _really_** **under, not in stasis lock. I don't want to get punched in the face again just because the programming didn't stick and she's somehow aware of it."**

My eyes widened at that as my eyebrows shot up as the sound of a Cybertronian walking away faded off to the right somewhere. What did they mean by _that?_ Did Wildfire become affected somehow by what happened to me?

Or was the program just so bad at stealth that Wildfire could feel it trying to invade and take over her mind?

I honestly didn't know whether I wanted to ask or just jump in there and find out for myself.

"I was afraid of this," Seek murmured to herself.

I frowned. "What do you mean?"

"Mindwarp is one of Shockwave's more successful experiments. He's able to bend a Cybertronian's processor so that they'll follow his orders—whether they're aware of it or not." Seek paused. "If he's the one working on Wildfire rather than the others, then…."

"But they said that Wildfire was throwing it off!" I responded.

"That just means he hasn't found a way to really pull her under yet. And he will, if given time." Seek shifted a little, moving away from the crack in the wall. "Have a look for yourself."

I moved toward the break in the wall and looked out, frowning when I saw how close we were to the floor. I could barely make out computers and what looked like the base of a metal table.

Then a bright green Cybertronian foot suddenly came down in front of the crack in the wall, and I drew back in surprise at the suddenness of it.

A strange humming noise followed as the Cybertronian moved away from the wall, and I got a good look at what Mindwarp looked like.

He was short for the average Cybertronian, mostly a bright, tacky neon green with psychedelic swirls of pink and yellow covering his arms and chest like tribal tattoos of some kind – it almost felt like he was inspired by the hippie era, and it made me wonder if Cybertronians ever _had_ a hippie era of their own to be inspired by. There was a strange, crazed grin on his face that almost seemed to be stretched to wide now, but it looked like there were frown lines on his forehead, as well. Not to mention the top of his silver head didn't have a helmet on it at all and gave him the impression of being a bald, crazy old man who could probably change personalities at a snap of his fingers.

 **"You know, it's a shame that you're so troublesome and so powerful at the same time,"** Mindwarp commented to whatever happened to be on the metal table. **"I would love to be able to pick your mind apart to see how you were shrugging off The Master's programs! But, alas, you are needed for our cause, so I'll have to wait until after we are the only ones left alive to claim Cybertron anew, yes?"**

A groan came in response, and Mindwarp simply chuckled before starting to work at one of the nearby computers.

I clenched my fists as I clenched my jaw, fingers scraping against the metal below them. A hiss slipped out past my teeth.

Seek looked at me with an expression of concern and worry. "What are you—"

"If he thinks that they can take over Cybertron after _we_ worked to get it back to normal, then he's got another thing coming," I muttered under my breath, eyes narrowing. I looked over at Seek. "That's Wildfire he's got in there right now; we've got to get him away from her in order to get her loose."

"And how do you suggest that?" Seek responded. "He's not going to leave her alone! Not when he's providing this much of a challenge to him!"

"Well then, we need to get his attention away from her _now_ before things gets even worse." I started to move closer to the crack.

Seek grabbed my arm. "If you're suggesting that you're going to draw him away, then you're planning for suicide. Mindwarp isn't kind to Mini-Cons or anyone that isn't bigger than him."

I frowned at that, but I didn't pull my arm out of Seek's grip. "Well then, what do you suggest that we do? I've got an ability that will allow me to remain invisible and draw Mindwarp away without him actually spotting me; I was planning on making use of it before circling back here to get Wildfire loose."

"You don't know what the Reforged are capable of," Seek responded. "That mech we got past with the infared vision? I wouldn't be surprised if he was a failed experiment and if there were others that have the ability and actually succeeded in not having their processor get completely torn apart. Mindwarp's processor is literally _warped_ by all the work Shockwave did to him. Do you really think that you're going to be able to actually draw him away and come back without getting caught?"

I frowned. "Honestly? I'm expecting them to come after me, but Megatron is out there right now doing who knows what. The base _is_ emptier than normal, right?"

Seek gained an odd look on her face at that. "Megatron? He's out in Kaon right now?"

"Yeah. But we've gotta move; I don't know how long he's going to be out there."

Seek hesitated, but then her grip on my arm loosened. "All right. I'll help, but we're going to do things my way."

"And what's that?"

Seek didn't verbally respond. Instead, she _bolted_ out of the tunnel, transformed, and squealed out of the room, leaving tracks on the ground and the smell of _something_ similar to burned rubber.

Mindwarp turned his head just as Seek was zipping halfway across the door. He gasped. **"A Mini-Con! Delightful! It seems we've regained an infestation."** He grinned wickedly, then dashed out of the room, brandishing what looked like a prod of some kind and cackling as he went after Seek.

"I hope she's going to be okay." I gained an uneasy expression, then shook my head and ran out of the room before jumping on my hoverboard and zipping up to the table.

There, strapped down and with her head stuck in some kind of metal cage, was Wildfire. She looked like she was barely awake, optics flickering like she was trying to wake up but wasn't quite there yet.

I shifted my right hand into my Buster, aimed at the lock that was over Wildfire's right wrist, and fired.

 _Brrzzt!_

The laser binding that was keeping her arm down flickered and died instantly; I quickly moved to her other limbs and shot out the bindings that were holding down her left wrist, knees, and ankles. Then I turned my focus to the thing that was stuck on her head.

Wildfire's optics flickered again, still blue like they were supposed to be. It didn't look like they'd glazed over, either, which was a relief for me. "Maria?"

I nodded. "I'm getting you out of here." I looked over the metal cage that was on Wildfire's head, frowning a little. "Now how to get this thing off…."

"…think there's a release switch on the side or something."

I nodded again. "Okay; gotcha." I moved back and forth a little in order to see where the release switch Wildfire mentioned was, then caught sight of what looked like a locked-down lever of some kind on the right side of her head.

It kind of looked like one of those levers that might be on windows – the ones that lock them shut.

I moved closer to the switch and looked it over, frowning as Wildfire clenched and unclenched her fists slowly, as though she was trying to get feeling back into them. "Okay. Let's see if I can get this thing off."

I grabbed the lower part of the lever and pulled up. The metal creaked and groaned in response, clearly not wanting to let go – especially since I wasn't as big or probably as strong as the average Cybertronian. I probably got it moved what would probably be a centimeter to a large Cybertronian before I had to stop in order to catch my breath.

"Either this thing's stuck or I'm just really weak compared to you guys!"

Wildfire made a strained noise that sounded like a laugh. "You're small; of course you're not gonna have my strength." She reached up – wincing a little at the moment – at pulled at the release lever, getting it to move a lot more than I'd been able to get it to move. The metal bars of the "cage" around her head moved back in response, allowing Wildfire to just grab the bars and slide her head out the opening at the bottom of the headset-thing. "You shouldn't have come on your own."

"I didn't; Megatron's causing a ruckus and a Mini-Con helped me get in. Seek's giving us time, but I don't think we're gonna have much longer before—"

There came the sound of footsteps outside the room, causing Wildfire and me to turn our heads towards the door.

 **"I am going to look forward to experimenting with you and your power, little Cybertronian,"** Mindwarp cooed as he came back into the room, holding a struggling Seek in one hand. **"As soon as I'm done with—"**

I raised my right arm. "Charged Buster Shot!"

 _Brrrzp!_

Mindwarp let out a yelp of shock as the red-orange blast of energy smacked him in the face, disorienting him enough to drop Seek. She must've been used to drops from that height, because she rolled when she hit the ground before dashing over to the crack in the wall and disappearing without breaking her stride.

"Nice shot," Wildfire praised with a grin. "Now we just need to find Sideswipe and Sunstreaker and get out of here."

"Where are they?" I responded as Mindwarp rubbed at his optics, whining something about being unable to see.

"From what I remember…this way!" Wildfire moved out of the room, slamming Mindwarp into the nearby wall as she went. I zoomed after her.

"Are you okay?" I asked worriedly. "You didn't sound as energetic a moment ago. A-and what about your head?"

Wildfire slowed only slightly at my question, glancing over at me as we moved down the hall. Faintly, I could hear the sound of explosions from somewhere, as well as cries of pain and battle cries. "Maria, I'm fine. Those programs didn't stick."

"Yeah, I heard from the hippie Joker wannabe. But _why?_ "

Wildfire shrugged. "A little bit of what's in your head slipped over into mine?"

I stared at her oddly. "…we should probably get Jolt to check that when we get back to Iacon."

"Yeah, maybe. For now, though, let's concentrate on giving these guys the runaround for trying to get into my head in the first place!"

Wildfire summoned her cannons, and I nodded in agreement, a grin spreading across my face in response to Wildfire's eagerness. If she said she was okay, I trusted her – to a point, anyway. There was still a chance that she was being affected by something, at least, but it didn't look like it was turning her over to the dark side.

Yet, anyway.

The hallway gave way to a larger room with a number of corridors shooting off it, causing Wildfire and me to stop short.

"And this is where my memory gets fuzzy," Wildfire muttered frowning.

 **"She went that way! I believe she and the Mini-Con who is with her are attempting to find the Autobots we captured with the project!"**

"Sounds like we're gonna get company!" I yelped, glancing back at the hallway we had just gone through. "Just pick one and hurry!"

"All right, all right!" Wildfire turned her head for a moment, then bolted towards the hallway across the room from us. I flew after her, intent on keeping up and not losing sight of my friend after I'd only _just_ managed to rescue her from who _knows_ what kind of mental torture.

The hallway started to get darker suddenly, giving the entire area a sense of foreboding.

"Okay, now this is a little familiar," Wildfire muttered.

"You mean this is where the brig is?" I spoke up hopefully.

"No. This leads down to one of the mines; I've worked here before. Which means that we're gonna run into more morons down here, if they're digging up ore or Energon deposits. Turn off your Buster – we don't want that thing going off when we're so close to the mines."

"Right; fire hazard." I deactivated my Buster. "But we're going to have to circle back in order to get Sides and Sunny out of there, right?"

"That's the plan."

"Then why aren't we turning around now?"

Wildfire looked back at me and grinned. "I know these mines like the back of my hand, even if they may have widened the tunnels or dug deeper since I was last here. We can hide out in there and wait in order to give them a proper ambush."

I considered Wildfire's statement for a moment, then nodded. "Okay. But we're going to get a lot more attention that way, probably."

"When has that ever stopped you when you've gotten reckless?" Wildfire responded.

I spluttered at her statement. "H-hey! I'm not _that_ —"

Wildfire shushed me as we broke out of the hallway and entered what looked like a dimly lit docking area for vehicles. The ground here went from smooth metal to much more rough metal that looked a lot like bedrock of some kind.

"Okay," Wildfire muttered. "Come on; let's see if we can get in one of the tunnels that hasn't collapsed yet; should prove for a good ambush." She moved towards the three tunnels that were branching off from the main area, then slipped behind an alcove located in one of them. I followed after her and hovered a little behind her left shoulder so that I could watch for the Reforged.

 _Bip! Bip! Bip!_

I blinked. There was something red blinking at the edge of my vision. I pulled back a little in order to see what it was and stiffened.

 _There was something on the back of Wildfire's neck._

"Uh…." I summoned my Buster, switching it to Stun before quietly raising it at the back of Wildfire's neck. Whatever it was, it wasn't supposed to be there, and I wasn't about to let it stay there for long.

"What is it?" Wildfire started to turn her head slightly.

"You've got something that's not supposed to be there," I replied. "Stun Shot!"

The electric-yellow blast was shooting out of my Buster as Wildfire's optics widened; she was about to say something when it collided with the beeping red thing on the back of her neck.

 _BRRRRZZZT!_

"Gah!" Wildfire doubled over as the thing that had been on the back of her neck – looked like a shell of some kind – was sent flying and hit a wall, where it exploded.

"Wildfire!" I flew down and around to look at her in concern. "Are you okay?"

"Gah…hah…hah…." Wildfire took in a few deep breaths as she leaned against the wall in order to steady herself. She shook her head, a more determined look appearing on her face. "I'm fine. Just got a bit of a processor ache." She frowned at something behind me, and I turned and looked in the direction of the thing she was looking at. Or, the remains of a thing.

"Cerebro Shell," Wildfire muttered under her breath. "So _that's_ what they do. I'll have to warn Magnus."

"A what now?" I asked, frowning.

 **"Oh! So you found my little mind inhibitor, eh?"**

I whirled around at the sound of the voice, stiffening when I caught sight of Mindwarp standing at the end of the hallway that we had rushed out of moments ago.

 **"Very useful for keeping unruly Cybertronians in check and making them susceptible to suggestion."** Mindwarp's twisted grin widened. **"We are fortunate that Shockwave had bred a number of Insecticons to be capable of creating these things! I do not know what I would have done without access to such technology."**

Wildfire winced. I looked back and forth between them, eyes widening sharply at the implications of that. Then my eyes narrowed and I glared back at Mindwarp.

 **"You've just crossed the line,"** I growled darkly. **"You can't just mind control people!"**

 **"Mind control? Little Mini-Con, it is but suggestion that I dabble in, as well as restoration of the processor's proper programming. I do not 'control' those who enter my lab."** Mindwarp gave a little chuckle. **"That would be most unethical, don't you think?"**

 **"You attached a device to my friend that made her susceptible to that kind of thing,"** I snapped. **"That** ** _is_** **mind control! And I'm not going to let you get away with that!"** Flames exploded across my arms, and I threw two fireballs forward at the stunted mad scientist.

Red and golden-yellow blurs moved in front of Mindwarp suddenly, and the blasts of flames hit the chests of two mechs and scattered, leaving scorch marks on their paint.

I pulled back in surprise.

Wildfire let out a hiss. "Sideswipe! Sunstreaker!"

Neither one of the mechs responded. Their optics – somehow – looked glassy and blank, their faces slack.

I felt something tighten in my chest. "This isn't good."

"No kidding," Wildfire muttered in reply. "Stay back. I'll take care of these guys."

"Are you sure?" I turned sharply to look at her in concern. "You were just—"

"I'm _fine,_ kid. And I don't want you getting hurt over this mess." Wildfire glanced over at me. "Just stay back."

Then she lunged forward, the blades that were hiding in her arms suddenly exploding out of her wrists, just above her clenched fists. Sideswipe and Sunstreaker moved forward as one, as well, bringing back fists and throwing them forward, seemingly intent on hitting Wildfire in the gut.

Wildfire caught their arms with her blades and spun, grunting as she threw their arms back and threw the twins off-balance for a moment. Flames sprouted across her swords before she thrust them forward.

The twins caught the blades, seemingly not noticing the fire as they pushed Wildfire back; I caught sight of heated metal on the palms of their hands as Wildfire stumbled back before catching herself.

Wildfire growled. "Looks like I'm going to have to do something about knocking some sense back into you. Maria! Knock some sense into them like you did for me!"

I blinked in surprise for a moment, then grinned at the fact that Wildfire had just asked me to help her out. "Sure!" I zoomed out of the tunnel, activating my Light Refractor as I went and disappearing from sight of the naked eye. Hopefully; I didn't know if Mindwarp had infared or not.

 **"What are you planning? What is this language that you're speaking?"** Mindwarp demanded.

I snorted as I circled around behind Sideswipe and Sunstreaker as Wildfire charged at them again. Like I was gonna tell him what it was I was speaking in. If he couldn't understand it, that was his problem and our advantage.

 _Bip! Bip! Bip!_

I heard the sound of the "Cerebro Shells" before I saw them. Now that Wildfire and I weren't hiding in a tunnel with even more dim lighting, I was able to see what exactly the Cerebro Shells looked like: some sort of black and purple scarab with a blinking light on the back.

I readied my Buster, then raised it and fired a Stun Shot at Sunstreaker first, causing him to stumble as the Shell was sent flying before I quickly turned my attention to Sideswipe and did the same before shooting back around behind Wildfire.

"Whoa!" Sideswipe pinwheeled his arms for a moment before losing his balance and crashing to the ground. "Ow."

Sunstreaker managed to catch himself before he collapsed, and he looked down at himself in alarm. "Who – where did these come from?!" He motioned to the scorch marks on his chest in a panic.

"Sorry, Sunstreaker, but you weren't yourself a couple minutes ago!" I called from behind Wildfire. "I was aiming for the goon behind you!"

"Behind—" Sunstreaker turned to look back and cut himself off. Then he growled. "Oh. It's _you."_

Sideswipe got to his feet, glaring at Mindwarp. "All right, you freak. It's time we took you in. This should take those Reforged down a peg!" He promptly lunged at the stunted mech, who went down screaming as Sunstreaker actually joined in moments later.

"Now to find our way out of here," I spoke up worriedly.

"Hey, no worries." Wildfire grinned. "I know these mines, remember? There are a couple escape hatches nearby that lead up to the outskirts of the city. We can head up and meet up with whoever's causing a ruckus out there no problem."

"Okay then." I nodded. "I just hope Megatron's okay."

 _"Megatron?"_ Sideswipe and Sunstreaker looked at me with wide eyes.

"He's up there?" Sideswipe pointed up, no doubt meaning the world outside.

I nodded. "Yeah. He's the only one who came with me, actually, although the Mini-Cons got me into the building."

"Huh." Sideswipe blinked.

"Less talking, more moving," Sunstreaker grumbled. He motioned to Mindwarp. "Sideswipe, you carry him."

"Why?!"

"Because I don't want to get my paint chipped even more than it already is!"

"Oh, it's going to get more chipped anyway," Wildfire replied. She started towards one of the tunnels. "Come on; there's an exit this way."

Sunstreaker groaned, but he followed after Wildfire anyway. Sideswipe grabbed Mindwarp and threw him over one shoulder.

"Whelp." Sideswipe winked at me and grinned. "Better not lose them."

"Better not," I agreed as we followed after them.

 **Well, looks like everything turned out OK. And Seek even got out alive, too! I wonder if we'll see her again. Hm...**

 **Anyway, this arc is nearly coming to a close - We've just got one chapter to go, and then we're onto the next arc!**

 **So I'll see you guys the next time that I post a chapter!**


	22. Cybertron part 10

**Hey, guys! Sorry I haven't gotten back and updated in a while - school happened. And then Thanksgiving yesterday.**

 **Taeniaea - Thanks!**

 **Shadescribe - Yeah, we should see here again sometime. I haven't written her into a chapter since then though, so we may end up waiting until a future story; I don't know yet. And yeah, that was my thought on Cybertronians, too.**

 **Anyway, here's the next chapter!**

 **Chapter 22**

 **Maria's POV**

I balanced on Wildfire's shoulder as we came back though the Ground Bridge and into the Hall of Records.

Ratchet was instantly on top of us. "Where have you been?!"

"The Reforged have Cerebro Shells," Wildfire replied flatly. "Where do you think?"

Ratchet recoiled. "What?"

"Cerebro Shells?" Ultra Magnus stepped forward. "The Reforged still have access to them?"

"Seems like it." Sideswipe rubbed at the back of his neck, a look of disgust on his face. "Guh, that felt _nasty._ "

I shuddered. "Now you know how _I_ feel about that kind of thing."

"You are all going to my medical bay _now,"_ Ratchet said. "No if, ands, or buts about it! I can see that you have a few scrapes as well, _Megatron,_ do not think that you can get away that easily either!"

Megatron stiffened at Ratchet's voice, half a step up the stairs into the second floor.

"What are we gonna do about this feak?" Sunstreaker held up Mindwarp in his two hands, looking at the stunted Cybertronian with an expression of disgust. "I don't plan on holding onto him forever; he could have some disease that'll cause my paint to flake away!"

"If your paint is flaking, then you'd have more to worry about than your appearance!" Ratchet retorted.

"I will take him," Ultra Magnus spoke up in response. "I know how to deal with Mindwarp _personally."_

My eyebrows shot up at the comment. Had Magnus had a run-in with this guy before?

It made me wonder what exactly the Wrecker had been up to before he had come down to Earth to help us out.

Ultra Magnus snatched Mindwarp from Sunstreaker's hands, causing the Cybertronian to let out a noise of distress and try to struggle against the larger Cybertronian's grip. "Ironhide, keep an eye on Soundwave. I will be back shortly." With that, Ultra Magnus stepped out of the Hall of Records.

"Yeah, yeah," Ironhide muttered from where he stood next to Soundwave. "I'll keep an eye on him."

Ratchet started herding us out of the Hall, as well. "Come on! Let's get you all to a proper med bay!" He didn't seem to be the least bit afraid of Megatron, since he outright grabbed the mech's hand and dragged him towards the door.

"Rumble is alive," Megatron called over his shoulder as we stepped out of the Hall of Records and onto the open street. "He is in Kaon, with the other Mini-Cons that reside there. I can only think that his brethren and your other charges are with him."

I saw Soundwave turn his head sharply at that just before the front door of the Hall of Records closed.

"Great," Ratchet grumbled as he led us up the street. " _More_ trouble."

"Rumble actually helped me find a way into the base," I spoke up. "So I don't think that he's going to be _actually_ causing trouble anytime soon."

"You don't know that," Wildfire grumbled. "I'm surprised he's alive – would'a thought that those pranks he liked to pull with his brother so much would have ended up killing him at one point."

"Pranks?" Sideswipe repeated, perking up almost instantly.

"You are not going to give him any details," Ratchet growled.

"Pit no." Wildfire snorted. "I'm not planning on seeing what the four of _them_ would be able to do together."

"Good." Ratchet gave a nod that seemed to signal the end of the conversation, then looked over at Megatron. "And what were you up to during this whole escapade, exactly?"

"I was simply ensuring that my skills had not gone _rusty_ , good doctor," Megatron replied smoothly. He grinned. "For all that Shockwave praised his creations for their innovativeness and new and recombined abilities, they still cannot match the cunning of a gladiator."

I shivered a little, remembering where Megatron had been when we'd finally been able to meet up with him: standing alone, with a large number of Cybertronians that looked like piles of mish-mashed parts scattered around what probably used to be some sort of town square-type of area not far from the Reforged's base. And he'd only been armed with swords at the time – what I'm guessing was the standard edition for all Cybertronians, since they looked similar to the ones that Wildfire used.

Ratchet's optics widened at that. "Oh."

"I'm glad that I wasn't caught in the middle of it," Sideswipe commented.

"You and me both," I agreed.

It didn't take us too long to reach Ratchet's medical facilities, which were actually being run by _multiple_ medics. I definitely saw a larger number of mechs and femmes moving about in the building as Ratchet took us to one of the larger examination rooms.

"Looks like you've got more hands to help," I commented as Ratchet closed the door behind us.

The old mech scoffed. "Not much good it'll do us. The war's over, so we won't be having to worry about very big emergencies. Having a skeleton crew might be considered a good thing, however, if you keep getting yourselves into trouble like this." He shot Wildfire and me a meaningful look. "Wildfire, you're first."

Wildfire snorted, then sat down on the berth with me still on her shoulder. Ratchet instantly moved around so that he could get a good look at the back of her neck.

"There is definitely evidence of the Cerebro Shell here," Ratchet muttered. "Wildfire, how do you feel?"

"Well, I've got a few scratches here and there and I think I'm low on—"

"Not physically. I can see with my own optics where you've been hurt and what I'm going to have to do in order to fix it."

Wildfire paused. "When we're done here, I'd like some time alone to go through my own head."

"Do you have the capabilities for that?" Ratchet responded. He brushed something off the back of Wildfire's neck – what looked like the remains of a leg, probably from the Cerebro Shell. Then he shot me a look and raised his arm, activating the scanner. Taking a look at the readout, he said flatly, "You're fine, other than a little energy drainage. How you managed to get out of this unscathed is beyond me."

"I was kept out of the fighting," I replied.

"Considering how much you want to get into it I find that surprising." Ratchet returned his attention to Wildfire. "You still haven't answered my question."

"I know how my head's _supposed_ to be, Doc, and since the freaks _messed_ with it I'd rather make sure that nothing's wrong on my own," Wildfire snapped in reply.

I frowned. "Wildfire, you can trust Ratchet…."

Wildfire sighed irritably. "I know that. But when you get your inhibitions stripped back and have yourself exposed to who knows what…you know what I'm talking about."

I shivered. Megatron sent us both a look of confusion while Sideswipe and Sunstreaker exchanged looks. "What I had was worse. At least with you I could shoot the thing off. With me…." I trailed off.

"…right. Nearly forgot about that." Wildfire sighed and shook her head. "All right, doc, you can have a look. Just be careful what you poke at."

"I'm a medic," Ratchet snapped in reply. "I know what I'm doing." He sounded irritated, but there was a concerned note in his voice as well – it was just so buried under his gruff attitude that it was extremely difficult to notice. "Maria, I believe that Jolt is waiting out in the lobby and will be able to take you home. I can handle things from here."

I hesitated at that, then nodded. "Okay. Fire, you'll call me later, right?"

"If I can reach you," Wildfire replied. "You're planning on going to other places; I don't think the comm'll reach that far." She smirked a little.

I snorted. "I got called _by_ another dimension already; I think that you'll be able to reach me fine." I backflipped off Wildfire's shoulder and onto my hoverboard. "See you around, I guess. And don't try to get into anymore trouble."

"What do you take me for? You?" Wildfire snorted. "Kid, I'll be fine. Get going."

I nodded a little in response, then zipped out the door as Sideswipe nudged it open.

Jolt was waiting in the lobby for me, just like Ratchet had said. Joshua was with him, sitting on his left shoulder with a concerned frown on his face as I flew over, nearly avoiding hitting a passing Cybertronian in the head.

"We only just heard about what happened," Joshua said. "What you did was horribly reckless, but you did come back in one piece. That must mean that you actually put a plan together."

"More like I was able to figure things out as I went," I admitted in reply. "I got some help from the Mini-Cons in Kaon; one actually came in with me and provided a momentary distraction so that I could free Wildfire. Seek managed to get out of there alive, too."

"Good." Joshua nodded. "I'm relieved to hear that you were actually thinking a little."

"I'm thinking all the time!"

"But you usually don't think straight when someone you know is in danger," Joshua pointed out. "That could be your undoing someday, since it clearly hasn't been already."

I frowned and folded my arms across my chest. "Hmph."

"How about I get you two home before Maria's parents are worried even more than they already are?" Jolt suggested. "I think they would like you to be in their sight for a least a little more than a couple days before you go anywhere again."

I nodded slightly in response. "Yeah; home sounds like a good place to be right now." I flew over to Jolt and landed on an outstretched hand. "I've gotta recharge and catch up on what I've missed in this dimension."

"Considering everything that's happened, I would think that you're already caught up," Jolt replied. He started to move out of the building and down the street towards the outskirts of town. I caught sight of a few mechs and femmes staring at us, but Jolt and Joshua didn't give any visible reaction that they noticed.

"I'm thinking of staying home for maybe a week before heading out again," I announced. "It'll give me some time to think about where I could go next and it'll be a nice breather, too."

"Make sure that Mr. and Mrs. Carlsdale know that," Joshua said from above me.

"I know, I know. I was planning on telling them that when we got home." I frowned at my cousin. "What about you? Are you going to go anywhere other than X's world this summer?"

"I don't particularly plan to," Joshua replied. "But, if something comes up, I wouldn't be adverse to traveling elsewhere. So long as it does not interfere with a project of mine."

"Yeah, that'd be dangerous," Jolt agreed. "Especially considering what we discussed."

I frowned. "What?"

"It's nothing that you need to be concerned about." Joshua shook his head. "Not right now, at any rate. If it does come to affect you, I'll let you know."

My frown deepened. "You're keeping secrets again. Are you sure that's a good idea?"

"It's fine. You've been keeping your Pokémon teams a secret; I don't see why I can't keep my experiments private."

I scowled at that, but figured that Joshua probably had a point, despite the fact that I actually hadn't summoned any Pokémon to our dimension recently using my Unovan PokeDex.

That made me wonder if I _should_ summon a Pokémon, actually. There was a chance that they were worried about me, since I hadn't gotten into contact with them for quite some time.

It didn't take us too long after that in order to reach the Space Bridge that was outside of Iacon. No one had tried to stop us on the way, and Jolt didn't really stop for a chat, either.

"Iacon feels a little funny," I commented as Jolt started to activate the Space Bridge. I looked back at the city as the machine started warming up. "It doesn't feel like it did back when I came up here for Spring Break, at any rate…."

"That's probably because there are more Cybertronians around," Jolt replied.

I frowned, then shook my head. "No, it's….there's something else. I'm not entirely sure how to describe it, but…something's different."

"You can try to figure out what it is later, when you're not upholding a promise to stay on Earth for a week," Joshua replied pointedly.

The hillside was suddenly covered in a greenish glow, speckled with reds and blues as the Space Bridge came to life.

"Time to head back." I squared my shoulders as Jolt slowly lowered himself to the ground, letting Joshua and me get off his shoulder and hand. "I hope to be back up again sometime this summer yet."

"I think Magnus will be hoping that the Reforged are taken care of by then," Jolt replied.

I snorted. "Well, if he doesn't have them cleared out, I'd be more than willing to find a way to help. Maybe I can get Deoxys' attention and see if he can do anything about disabling the Cerebro Shells. He can live in space, so Cybertron's atmosphere shouldn't cause him any problems."

"Maybe," Joshua agreed. He started forward and stepped into the Space Bridge. I gave Jolt a nod in farewell before following after Joshua.

The two of us stepped out of the Space Bridge and onto our street. My feet hit the asphalt before the large glowing portal closed behind us, then looked around and frowned a little.

"Is it just me, or does the street seem more quiet than usual?" I asked.

"Most of our neighbors are off on vacation elsewhere by now, remember?" Joshua replied. "It is June, after all."

I frowned a little. "Yeah, but…I would think that the Space Bridge would have ended up getting us a little attention. I mean, it's _huge._ "

"You're also forgetting that people around here are getting used to the fact that we can pop in and out using portals and they probably think that was one of them," Joshua replied dryly.

"At this rate, you'll be able to summon Rayquaza and they probably wouldn't bat an eye."

"I'd rather not." I frowned. "Rayquaza's a bit too big."

"Well, a smaller Legendary then. Like Celebi or Mew. But you're still seeing my point that they're learning to adapt to anything that we might end up doing."

I nodded slightly in response. "Yeah, I guess so…."

"Maria! There you are!"

I turned my head when I heard Mom's voice, and blinked in surprise when I was suddenly caught up in a hug.

"You really should let us know if your plans to stay for a night fall through and make you stay longer," Mom said.

I blinked a couple times, then looked up at Mom and raised an eyebrow. "Mom, I've spent a week in another dimension before; I would have thought that you'd be okay with it."

"Well, when you give us a time that you're probably going to be back and you aren't back by then, I get a little worried." Mom looked down at me with an expression of disapproval.

"Well, I'm not planning on going anywhere for a few days, so…."

"Good. I'd like to be able to spend time with you and not constantly fret over whether or not you're still alive because you haven't called home."

"Mmph." I hugged Mom back. She ruffled my hair a little, getting me to whine in complaint and her to laugh in response.

"Now, come on. Matthew and Liz aren't back yet, but I do have a few ideas as to how we can keep ourselves busy." Mom grinned down at me.

I knew that grin. This wasn't the "we're going to be up to mischief" or "I'm going to make sure that you do an activity" type of look.

"Marathon?" I asked, eyes suddenly alight with hope.

Mom chuckled. "Well, it's not like there's anything else we could do this summer." She looked over at Joshua. "You're more than welcome to join us."

Joshua shook his head. "I'd rather not. I've got a few things that I intend to look into."

I shrugged. "Well, if you ever do feel like you want to do something, you can always stop by."

"I'll keep that in mind." Joshua gave both of us a nod, then turned and started down the street to his house – or, more than likely, straight to his lab.

"Come on." Mom tugged me back towards the house. "Your father is picking one that he hasn't seen yet, and I'm pretty sure that I know which one it is."

I grinned widely. "All right! I hope he likes it as much as we do!"

"I should think so!" Mom laughed. "It seems to be the sort of thing that's right up his alley."

The two of us reached the house, and we slipped inside while grinning eagerly at each other before we met up with Dad in the living room.

Just by the look on his face and the logo of the cartoon on the TV, I knew that we were going to be in for some real fun.

 **And that's the second arc done for you guys! Next time I post - which could be this weekend yet - we'll be starting the next arc! See you then!**


	23. Atlantis Revisit part 1

**Hi! I'm back with the next chapter - and the start of the next arc!**

 **Shadescribe - I'm glad you like the way I ended that last arc. Hm, Maria and her Pokemon...well, you're going to have to wait and see. ;) As for the Reforged and Mindwarp, well, we're both going to have to wait and see - I'm definitely going to be working over the chapters I wrote over NaNoWriMo (26 chapters! 83K!), so who knows at this point?**

 **So here we go!**

 **Chapter 23 – Atlantis Revisit part 1: Next Leg**

 **Maria's POV**

"Where are you going now?"

I paused at the question and looked back at Joshua. Once again, we were standing on the street in front of my house, but this time something about the air seemed to be a little different: it was hot and humid, nothing like the more spring-like air of late May and early June.

July was starting to make its presence known a week early.

"I was thinking of paying Cap a visit." I shrugged. "I haven't been over to his dimension yet, and I kinda want to pop by and see if they might need a World Jumper's help. Since, you know, Marvel's kinda got a _lot_ of problems on a regular basis."

Joshua frowned a little. "But they are able to solve them on their own, you have to admit that."

"Yeah, but sometimes they can nearly cause all of time and space to collapse. If I'm there and something happens, maybe I can at least lessen the damage a little. At least keep at least _one_ of them from killing themselves because of something - I could change the team dynamic enough that something like that won't happen."

"Maybe." Joshua folded his arms across his chest. "Or, maybe you could end up killing yourself in the process, and I doubt that would go over well with your family."

I paused at that, blinking a couple times as Joshua's words settled in. My mouth tightened into a straight line at the thought. "Oh. Yeah, you've got a point there. But I'd still like to pop over. I've got a weird feeling about the place."

Joshua blinked at that, then shrugged. "So long as you're careful. Just remember that Wildfire will probably hunt you down as soon as you get back to find out if you died and were resurrected like heroes usually are over there."

I ducked my head a little at that. "To be honest, I wouldn't expect anything else." I straightened up and shot Joshua a grin. "Keep an eye on things here while I'm gone, will you? I don't know when Matthew and Liz are going to get back, and Cybertron's still getting itself put back together, so thing's are going to be a bit unbalanced up there for a while."

"Of course," Joshua replied. "I'm interested in what's going on on Cybertron, too; you're not the only one who has connections up there."

I nodded in response. "I'll see you when I get back!"

I snapped my fingers, summoning a portal, and stepped through it into a bright blue tunnel that seemed to be made of pure energy. Beyond the walls of constantly shifting blue, it appeared as though stars were twinkling in the distance, with larger shapes moving about in the space beyond.

Wait. Weird shapes?

I frowned. "That's weird. I've only seen stars out there before…what are the other things?" I squinted, trying to get a better look at the large shapes that were moving in the distance and over and under the tunnel I was standing in, but they only became even more fuzzy. "Well, whatever they are, I hope they don't decide to cause me any trouble. I don't want to get stranded in the Lanes Between."

I stood still for a moment longer, then shook my head and started down the tunnel towards my intended exit – the Marvel universe, specifically the world that had people I had already interacted with. Some sort of gut instinct guided me towards my destination – that had happened a few times already, so I had gotten used to it by now. Felt kinda weird, but…right, at the same time.

I watched the shapes out of the corner of my eye as they continued to move around. Some of them looked like they were passing pretty close over my head – I ducked instinctively, but they didn't cause the tunnel to collapse or anything like that.

It didn't take me too long to find the exit, even with the distractions I was getting. Before I could open the tunnel up and step out onto the Marvel Earth, though, I felt _something_ pull at my chest.

I stopped in confusion and looked down, my eyes widening in alarm when I saw that my chest was _glowing blue_ – specifically in the center, right over where my core was.

The shard I'd gotten from Atlantis my first time off world.

"What in the—"

 ** _Come._**

The voice reverberated in my head and chest – a woman's, with a strange accent that didn't sound like anything that I'd heard back home.

But still, it sounded…oddly familiar.

The force of the reverberations caused me to wince and draw back from the tunnel's end, shaking my head as it started to pound with a gently throbbing headache. "Ngh. Wh-where – who's—"

 ** _Come._**

I caught sight of something - a crystalline sphere with a white-blue glow, its surface rippling like water as it pulsed with its own light. A figure appeared within - a woman with tan skin, white hair, and a dress reminiscent of African tribal wear, arms outstretched at her sides. She seemed to be motioning for me to come over to her.

I sucked in a breath sharply, a hand moving to my chest and fingers scraping against my armor - an attempt to grip at a shirt that I no longer had. "Y-Yobmok?! How is she-"

 ** _Maria, we have need of you! Come!_**

I winced at the more demanding tone that the voice had taken, cringing as a vision accompanied it: a figure in a black cloak, silver creatures flitting in and out of sight, two familiar young men - one with spiky red hair, the other with silver - standing back to back with key-like blades in their hands...

My eyes snapped open - _since when had they been shut?_ \- as the visions cycled into the back of her mind and settled there resolutely. "Okay." I straightened up, looking at the end of the tunnel - and the world that was hidden on the other side. "Sorry, Cap. I guess I'll just surprise you another time." I turned slowly, considering my options and how exactly I could get to my new destination quickly.

There came a glow from my chest again, and I felt a tugging sensation lead me down another tunnel that branched off the one I was in already - one that I hadn't taken when I was making my way over to the Marvel Earth.

I blinked a couple times out of confusion for a moment, then nodded and started forward. I took even strides at first, but then I started to move more quickly as the tugging persisted, going from even strides to a power walk to a dead run as the tugging led me from one tunnel to another.

As I went, my mind wandered to the vision that I'd just had.

"That was definitely bad news," I muttered. "I think I saw a Nobody, but I'm not sure…Lea _was_ wearing his Nobody cloak the last time I saw him, but he was in a different scene not involved in the cloak at all…."

Something flickered at the corners of my vision, but I hardly noticed.

" _If_ it's a Nobody that's involved in this, then…who _were_ they? I didn't get a good look, but whoever it is can't be good now – or at least in a good _position_ , since Axel was decent before…."

My vision flickered again, becoming more blue at the edges and startling me out of my thoughts. "What the – okay, I'd better hurry. Who knows what _that_ means!"

I quickly picked up the pace of my run as the tugging sensation in my chest grew stronger. I could start seeing the blotchy figures outside of the tunnel more clearly as I went, catching sight of a multitude of wings on each of their backs. Each of the figures seemed to have a feminine shape to them, too, which made me wonder a bit about whether or not they were some kind of human race that had learned to live between dimensions or something.

Before I could even consider stopping to get a better look, though, the tugging turned into a _yank_ that caused me to slam into the dead end of the tunnel.

"Oof!" I stumbled back, shaking my head and actually clearing out some of the blue that had started to take over my vision. The yank I'd felt had turned back into an insistent tugging sensation, so I didn't feel like I was getting yanked towards the curved end of the Lane Between. "Okay. Guess that means I'm here."

I took a couple steps back from the wall and snapped my fingers, causing the wall to swirl into a familiar blue vortex. Then I stepped through it.

Atlantis, here I come.

 **3** **rd** **POV**

Maria stepped out of the portal and into what looked like a plaza of some kind, made of white stone and arranged in a circular pattern. A large number of the stone blocks that made up the ground were covered in strange, runic writing that appeared in a number of other places that Maria had found herself in – most notably, on the giant statues that stood in the distance at regular intervals.

"Maria!" A woman with long, white hair suddenly collided with Maria, causing her to stumble back in surprise as the portal closed behind her.

Maria blinked in surprise and confusion as she suddenly found herself wrapped up in a hug. She did have enough sense to identify who it was that was hugging her, however. "K-Kida?"

The woman pulled back from the hug and looked at Maria with a wide grin. "It is so good to see you again! I had thought that you wouldn't come!"

"W-well, I got called, so I kinda had to answer." Maria rubbed at her chest, the softer, more flexible metal of her gloved hands scraping against the harder metal that made up the rest of her armor. "Yobmok was…pretty insistent on that."

"I asked her to find you," Kida explained, grinning. The queen of Atlantis gained a more serious expression moments later. "We have need of your help."

Maria nodded, her brow furrowing as she remembered the vision she'd had while in the Lanes Between. "Yeah, I got that feeling. What's going on?"

"Considering that we were the ones to come into contact with the creature, it would probably be better if we explained it."

Maria turned her head when she heard the familiar-yet-unfamiliar voice. Her eyebrows shot up when she saw the collection of figures that were standing in the plaza with her and Kida. She blinked a couple times, then shook her head and frowned in alarm. "Wait, you _saw_ it?"

"Yup." The muscular African American man shook his head – Sweet, Maria remembered. "Creepiest thing, considering that we weren't expecting to see something wearing you-know-who's face after ten years of him being gone."

Maria frowned. "…I'm afraid I'm a little lost. All I saw in the vision I had was of a figure in a black cloak – which, while I know what _that_ means, I never got to see the person's face. I know it _can't_ be Lea, but—"

"If we tell you what happened, then maybe it'll jog your memory a little." The Hispanic young woman – Audrey – folded her arms across her chest in a huff. The mechanic's eyes wandered from Maria's face and looked down at her armor. "And then maybe you can tell me where you got that and how I can make my own."

Maria's mouth straightened into a thin line at that. "Uh, Audrey—"

"We ran into Rourke," an Italian man – Vinnie – said flatly. "Or, something that _looked_ like him, at any rate."

Maria stiffened, her eyes widening at the name. "But – but he _died_ when he got turned into that crystal monster! How did he –" She cut herself off. "Wait…

Her mind quickly went back to the vision and back to what she had remembered happening the last time that she had been in Atlantis. The first time that she'd World Jumped.

The Dream Eaters that had appeared as a result of Roarke's greed, especially when he had tried to take Kida and run back to the surface, leaving the entire civilization of Atlantis to die without a second thought towards their well-being. How Roarke had _died_ by being turned into a crystal monster, and then shattered by Maria's first unleashing of White Flare, moving but already _dead_ in the human sense.

"That crystal monster…does that mean that was his Heartless?" Maria looked around the plaza and found herself locking gazes with a silver-haired young man and a spiky, red-haired young man who was tall and more like a beanpole than the other.

"That would be the only explanation that we could come up with," the silver-haired young man replied. "Which means that we need to find him and stop him before he starts Organization XIII again."

"Guh, I hope we don't get another one of those," the redhead said with a shudder and a frown. "The _last_ time was a bit much."

"You mean, you know about what's going on?" Audrey turned to look at the two men, who stiffened when fixed with her glare.

"I'm still a little lost," Maria spoke up. "Could someone _please_ explain what's going on?"

The group looked over at Maria at that with blank expressions, blinking a couple times.

"Allow me." An old man in a white suit and white hair that stuck out in two points – one on either side of his head – stepped forward out of the group. "Maria, it's good to see you again."

Maria nodded. "Yeah. And the same to you, Mr. Whitmore. You know what's going on?"

"Indeed." Mr. Whitmore's mouth twitched in the direction of a section of a smile, but that faded into a more serious expression. "A few days ago, I'd gathered the quote-on-quote 'surviving' members of the Atlantis expedition for a celebration of the anniversary of their return. Considering that Milo Thatch now happens to be living quite a distance down below the sea, I couldn't exactly get him an invitation and expect him to make an appearance."

There came a nervous chuckle from the brown-haired, skinny man wearing tribal blue and purple-colored robes.

"I wasn't expecting Helga, either, although from what I've heard she may soon get out of prison down here on good behavior," Whitmore added. "Anyway, we'd gathered together and were talking about a few other rumored places that might do with some checking out when this uninvited guests somehow appears in my home! We were all put rather quickly on edge, let me tell you."

"I thought we were gonna die," commented an old woman – Packard. She took a drag on the cigarette between her fingertips.

"We were expecting Mr. Cloaky to do something that could end up putting us in danger, but then he drops his hood, says he's someone different but we all know that it's Rourke," Audrey spoke up. "Something like 'Rourxke' or something. Then he says he's gonna make sure we pay for what happened to him and disappears in a puff of black smoke. No trace of him anywhere."

"We got there a couple hours later," the redhead spoke up. "Just missed him."

Maria's mouth stretched into a thin line, frowning at what she had just been told. "This isn't good…any idea what he could be up to now?"

"Dunno." Audrey shrugged. "We came down here because we thought that he was going to do something to Atlantis, but…."

"We haven't seen any sign of Rourke since what happened," Milo finished. "So hearing that he's back…it's a little hard to believe."

"Not to us," the redhead replied. "I know what's going on. Rourke's turned into a Nobody."

Most of the group of people stared at the redhead in confusion while Maria nodded and the silver-haired young man gave the redhead an expression of annoyance.

"What Lea is saying is that Rourke has become a shadow of himself," the silver-haired man said. "He is Rourke, but he isn't. And we're going to need to do something about him before he starts causing even more trouble for you than he already has."

Lea rolled his green eyes at the other's words. "I was gonna explain, Riku. Don't need to steal my thunder."

Riku gave Lea a deadpan look in response.

"A shadow, huh?" Milo frowned, tapping his chin. "I think I might have read something in the old king's collection of readings somewhere. Something about…shadows of who people used to be sometimes coming back, but only on the outskirts of the city – they couldn't get near Yobmok for reasons even the previous kings didn't know."

"Nobodies are similar to Dream Eaters," Riku said.

"Except that they're clearly sentient and have minds of their own," Lea pointed out, sending Riku a look.

"Only if you have enough determination to keep yourself going afterwards," Riku responded. He looked over at Maria. "You haven't run into any Nobodies yourself, have you?"

Maria shook her head. "The places that I've been to have – for the most part – not been connected with anything involving them. Admittedly, there _were_ Heartless in that one area, but Lea and I took care of them and I don't think that they're going to cause any trouble there."

Riku nodded.

"So, Rourke's turned into one of those rock-monster, psychedelic-fish things." Vinnie motioned with his hands, as though he was holding one of the creatures in front of him. "Well, _that_ isn't weird at all."

"You're saying that you've faced creatures like these before." Whitmore pointed at Maria, Lea, and Riku with his cane. "Think you can do something about Rourke before he does anything to drastic to the world as we know it?"

Lea and Riku exchanged looks before nodding.

"It'll be my first time getting involved in something specifically like this, but I'll do what I can," Maria said, nodding.

"Good." Whitmore nodded in approval. "Since Rourke can't get anywhere near here, it's safe to assume that whatever he's up to is going to be up on the surface. Since you never saw the surface as far as I know, since you just suddenly popped into existence on my sub, I'm hoping that you kids will be able to blend in without attracting too much attention."

Maria rubbed the back of her head while Lea and Riku nodded.

"Okay. Enough talk about that. Where'd you get the damn _armor?_ " Audrey stomped over to Maria and poked the teenager in her chest. "And it's been ten years! I'd have thought that you'd look at least a little bit older!"

Maria stepped back from Audrey a little, holding up her hands. "W-well, it hasn't been ten years for _me;_ it's been two. I just turned eighteen recently. That's why I don't look like I'm…26? Yeah, 26."

Audrey gained a disbelieving expression, then snorted. "Yeah, right. And I'm a cartoon character."

Maria gained an odd look on her face, biting her lower lip and making an odd-sounding hum at Audrey's comment. "D'yeah…uh….mph." She shook her head. "As for the armor…I don't think it'd be a good idea for you to get the designs off me."

Audrey frowned at that. "What are you—"

"Where is your crystal?" Kida asked, frowning. "I know you have it – Yobmok found you through it. But I cannot see it."

"Yeah, I was wondering that, too," Milo said, nodding.

Maria's feet shuffled against the stone, making metallic scuffing noises. "I still have it, it's just – well…."

"Come on, kid, spit it out," Lea said pointedly.

Maria sucked in a breath and snorted it out in a sigh. "I had an accident. This," she motioned to her armored self, "isn't the body I _had_ when you guys saw me before. It's mechanical."

Audrey's eyes widened sharply. _"Dios mio…."_

A short, round man wearing goggles and covered in dirt – Mole – waddled forward and grabbed one of Maria's gloved hands. He pulled at the material, frowning, then sniffed it and licked it, sending a shudder up Maria's spine. "Hm. Metal, a lot of alloys…strange combination – unusually strong." He looked up at Maria, beady eyes narrowed suspiciously. "And no hint of dead skin cells underneath."

Maria pulled her hand out of Mole's grip and set it ablaze, burning off his saliva. "It's all mechanical."

"That should be impossible." Sweet motioned at Maria with a hand, frowning. "There's no way that a human being can become a…a machine! We're not supposed to be able to do that!"

Maria shrugged. "Well, it did. I was nearly dead when this happened; getting put in this body saved my life."

"And the crystal?" Kida insisted.

Maria paused at the question, then felt a tug of insistence at the back of her mind. She closed her eyes and sighed. "All right. Just…don't freak out?"

Maria knew how to open up her armor to expose her inner circuitry – she and Joshua had done that a few times already in order to make sure that everything was still running smoothly. She just hadn't done it in front of people before.

 _Click._ The catch that was keeping the armor in place came loose, and Maria opened her eyes and pulled her chest armor up. Kida, Milo, Mole, Vinnie, Audrey, Whitmore, Sweet, and Packard were dead silent as their eyes scanned over the complex circuitry and moving small, metal parts that were shifting around in Maria's chest. And, in the center, was a circular indent into Maria's chest, with a glowing blue orb spinning slowly and pulsing like a heartbeat.

"That looks like…." Milo trailed off, then looked up at Yobmok above their heads. The giant blue-and-white, crystalline orb was spinning slowly, with small, rock satellites circling it. Even though it was a great distance above their heads, it was still possible to see the carved faces that were on the satellites.

Kida reached forward, and her fingers brushed against the pulsing orb in Maria's chest. The Reploid shuddered in response.

"Feels funny," Maria muttered under her breath.

"You are here," Kida murmured. "Your form is gone, but your essence remains." She looked up at Maria, who was watching Kida with a hesitant, nervous expression. "You are still here."

Maria nodded slowly. "Y-yeah."

Kida stepped away, letting Maria quickly close her chest plate again before Audrey could get her fingers into her mechanical inner workings.

"Geez," Lea said. "When that thing with that crazy old man happened, I didn't think that you ended up having to go _that_ far. Not even your head's original?"

Maria shook her head. "It's synthetic skin – fake stuff."

"I want blueprints," Audrey said flatly.

"Do you know how to create an artificial intelligence?" Maria snapped back. "I don't think so.

Besides, don't we have something else to worry about? We gotta find Rourke!"

"I agree," Milo spoke up. "If his shadow is still around, that means he's going to be planning revenge on us for what happened."

"Even if it was his own fault," Audrey muttered, rolling her eyes.

"Be that as it may," Whitmore spoke up pointedly, "I have half a mind to leave you all down here until this shadow wears itself out."

"It's not going to do that," Riku said warningly in reply.

"Which means that we're going to have to go with the second and third options," Whitmore responded. "We're going to have to draw the thing's attention or hunt it down." He paused. "Or draw the shadow's attention _by_ hunting it down; I'll leave that up to you." He nodded to the group.

"Then what are you going to do in the meantime?" Milo asked worriedly.

"Help in the background, of course! How else are you going to be able to get the funds to track this monster down!" Whitmore grinned, but that faded slightly. "You don't have to get yourself involved, Milo. You're probably very busy, what with helping Kida run an entire country."

Milo and Kida exchanged glances at that. At the same time, Maria once again felt something twinge in her chest, pulling her upward a little. She looked up, noticing that the giant, floating crystal sphere was pretty much directly above their heads.

 ** _-He is gathering strength. Go. Defend this place. If nothing is done, this world will be lost-_**

Maria's eyes flashed a brighter blue-white for a moment; a quick flash of a world covered in darkness flashed through the back of her mind, and she shuddered.

"If Rourke is coming after everybody, he's going to try to come here eventually," Milo said as Maria looked back at the rest of the group. "I'm going with you."

"As will I," Kida added.

Milo looked at her sharply. "Kida, no! Atlantis needs its ruler, or else—"

"My people have lived in peace and safety for thousands of years," Kida replied shortly, frowning. "They will be fine without us here to govern them for a few days. My father's advisors know my and his policy well enough that they can assist the people here with everything they are going to require." She paused, and her frown softened into a wistful expression. "Also, it has been far too long since I saw the sun. I would like to see it again, and have my people experience its warmth."

Milo blinked a couple times at that, looking uncertain, but when Kida's expression didn't change, he nodded. "All right. We'll head up and take care of Rourke."

"Excellent!" Whitmore grinned. "Let's head back up, then – shouldn't take as long as the last time you took the trip, Milo; I made sure to bring the most advanced technology and cut the trip time down to almost nothing by making use of that underwater volcano that you woke up!"

"Oh, right!" Maria blinked a couple times, eyebrows shooting up as she remembered what had happened the last time she was in the area. "That thing hasn't caused you any issues, has it?"

Milo shook his head. "No; it's been pretty quiet. We've got a moat of lava around the city now, though, so be careful as we head out. I don't think that falling in would be a good thing."

Maria snorted. "Honestly, I could probably take a bath in the stuff if I wanted to now."

That comment got a number of stares from the others.

"Let's head out before you _actually_ do that," Milo suggested carefully.

 **Is it Marvel? No! We are going back to the first world that Maria ever traveled to - Disney's _Atlantis: The Lost Empire!_ Surprise!**

 **I'll see you next time with the next chapter!**


	24. Atlantis Revisit part 2

**One and a half weeks before I'm done with school for the semester. I can do this. I can do this.**

 **Shadescribe - To be completely honest, I wasn't sure what I could do with a Marvel arc, but there is a chance that something along those lines could happen in the future. Who knows? As for the Protocol...well, it comes and goes. IT should make at least one more appearance in this story, but where that happens...well, I'll leave that up in the air for you to find out.**

 **THEFIREKING (Guest) - Indeed, indeed! And we'll see a little bit of that in this chapter. :)**

 **Here we go!**

 **Chapter 24 – Atlantis, part 2: Testing, One, Two**

 **Maria's POV**

It turned out that Whitmore's little shortcut through the volcano involved using flying machines that they had parked on the edge of the city. There were a few people standing around them with confused expressions, but they backed away when we approached. Some of them even bowed when _I_ passed, which was the last thing that I had been expecting.

Then again, I hadn't been expecting the fact that Milo and the others hadn't seen me in _ten_ years rather than about three.

I admit, I almost jumped on my hoverboard when we were getting ready to fly out. Then I remembered the look I'd gotten from Audrey and decided against pulling out the hovering contraption. These guys were still pretty far back when it came to technology, and I wasn't about to cause them to advance too fast.

Although, considering that I'm walking proof that a human can become a machine, I might have already gotten some of the gears in Audrey's head turning. And Mole _was_ shooting me odd looks as I got into one of the flying contraptions behind Lea….

"I think that Mole wants to figure out what I'm made of," I said to Lea, raising my voice over the motor of the small plane as it started up.

"Mm?" Lea looked over at the Frenchman as the plane started to move, then quickly focused on our plane as it took off. The plane dipped down for a moment – no doubt because of my metal body's weight – before pulling back up again. "Well, you gotta admit, you are going to stand out a lot more than I will." He raised a hand and motioned to himself, specifically his long-sleeved, yellow shirt, the fingerless brown gloves, and jeans.

"Mph." I frowned as we flew into the volcano, taking a glance down at the fiery magma moat that Milo had mentioned that now surrounded the city. "I've got something that'll help disguise me as something else; I'll be fine."

My voice came out in a grumbling sort of tone as we passed through the volcanic lava tube; the heat coming from below felt nice, but my mind was more on what had happened moments ago, when my core had been exposed. Not to mention that Yobmok had spoken to me _directly,_ without using the spotlights or some kind of dream.

That was...more than a little unnerving.

"Something on your mind?" Lea asked, glancing back as we arrived in the bowels of the volcano. The heat was much more noticeable here, since there was a large pool of the bubbling stuff below us. It didn't look like it was going to erupt anytime soon, though, which I considered to be a good thing. He started to circle the plane around with the others, getting it to slowly climb along the inside wall of the volcano towards the top, which looked like it had some sort of metal opening directly above it.

A submarine?

"Something," I murmured almost absently.

"Wanna talk about it?"

I sighed and ran a hand through my hair, trying to keep it from flying in all directions. "I heard Yobmok in my head while we were down there. And…I've kinda got this funny feeling."

"Funny feeling? Do you mean about the future?"

I shook my head. "Nothing like that yet. It's just…it's like there's something connecting m somewhere, and it just feels so _odd_ and _weird_ because I've never felt it before."

"Huh." Lea sounded a little baffled.

"I think it's got something to do with my core – the Atlantean crystal – and how close my soul is to it now. Like, _bonded_ close. I don't exactly like the idea of me…well, feeling the connection between me and Yobmok…."

"I'm sure it's nothing you've gotta worry about. I mean, you're fine right now, right? I don't think that giant ball of energy down there is going to do anything now."

I frowned at that, then nodded slightly. "Yeah, probably…."

Lea flew the plane up and into the submarine after the rest of the group and managed to land it on the runway that was squeezed in between a couple large submarines that looked like they were built to hunt things bigger than whales.

 _Were_ there things bigger than whales in this dimension? I thought for a moment as I climbed out of the plane after Lea, trying to see if I remembered anything about what could have happened _after_ the original movie.

I got the vaguest tickle about some direct-to-release sequel that wasn't as good as the original movie, but the events were fuzzy. Just like the last time that I'd been in this world.

Whelp. At least I know some of the basics of what were going to be happening around here soon.

"So, what are we going to do about Rourke?" I asked aloud, tapping my chin thoughtfully as Lea and I followed the others out of the hangar-like area. "This guy's pretty cunning; it's going to take a lot for us to be able to find him, much less take him down, right?"

"Unfortunately," Audrey muttered with a huff. "He was the one who planned all our heists; he knew a lot going in that we learned coming out."

I nodded slightly, remembering what had happened the last time that we'd been together, and how they'd originally helped Rourke before turning on him and joining Milo in saving Atlantis. Well, the group I was with, anyway – Helga had still been with Routke, and it didn't look like I was going to be seeing her outside of Atlantis prison anytime soon.

"What manner of place is this?" Kida asked aloud, touching the metal walls as we climbed the stairs.

"It's a submarine," Whitmore replied, looking back at the Atlantean as we came out of the stairwell and into a hallway. Sweet closed and sealed a door behind us as Whitmore added, "It's a machine we can use to go deep underwater, since we can't exactly breathe in the water like fish can!" He chuckled. "It'll take a few hours for us to reach the surface. Until then, go ahead and make yourselves comfortable. Also, Milo, I'd recommend finding a change of clothes somewhere – I'm not sure how well people would take it if they saw you walking around in your royal outfit. No offense intended."

"N-none taken." Milo blinked in surprise. "Oh, man, I nearly forgot that we'd be sticking out like sore thumbs up here, too."

"What do you mean?" Kida asked, frowning and putting her hands on her hips.

"No offense to you, ma'am, but there are just some things about Atlantis' culture that didn't exactly make it past the city walls when you all went under." Sweet motioned to what he was wearing – a khaki shirt and jeans with large boots. "Clothes are one of those things that is completely different."

"I've got you covered there," Audrey spoke up, smirking. "Maria, you've got something too, right?"

"Something, yeah." I nodded, then activated my Light Refractor. Instantly, my armor was covered over in the clothes that I had been wearing before: blue jeans, white shoes with three red stripes on either side, red T-shirt, and orange jacket. "It's a hologram system; I can keep it going for hours, but I'll need to drop it sometimes to let the Refractor recharge a bit."

Audrey stared at me with wide, blank eyes.

"A hologram?" Whitmore came over and rapped his knuckles on my arm, causing a rather metallic noise in response. "I see! A disguise using light. Well, it's not exactly an ideal sort of situation, since anyone bumping into you will know there's something up, but it will do just fine."

"I've been careful around people who don't know what's happened," I replied, remembering the year of high school that ended about a month back for me. "This won't be any different."

"Well, good." Whitmore pulled out a pocket watched and flicked it open. "It'll probably take a few hours before we reach the surface. Until then, I suggest that you all relax and take a breather. It might be the last chance we have before we go after Rourke."

I nodded in agreement, my mouth straightening into a thin line at the thought of the man who had become a Nobody.

Audrey instantly grabbed my arm. "Okay, blueprints or no, I at least want to figure out what it is that you're made out of. You look like you should way a few hundred pounds at least, but you're not putting a dent in the hull and were able to get up here by plane easy!"

With that said, she promptly dragged me down the hall and away from the others as I let out a yelp of surprise.

"Not to mention I probably shouldn't be able to drag you this easily!" Audrey added, giving me a pointed look. "So either you're holding back or you've still got the strength of a human."

"I'm not planning on digging my feet in when I could tear the floor apart!" I responded, frowning. "Would _you_ want to see what could happen if we were too close to the hull and I did?"

Audrey paused for a moment at that. "Good point." Then she promptly started forward again – more slowly this time; she must've considered that I still possibly could end up doing that.

"So, who's the guy who put you back together, anyway?"

"I don't think you'd recognize the name if I told you," I replied.

"Well, tell me anyway."

I shrugged. "Thomas Light."

Audrey looked back at me and gave me an odd look. "You're serious. _Light?_ What kind of a name is that?"

"His." I shrugged again. "I told you you probably wouldn't recognize it. His name is pretty big where he's living, though."

"If he can turn a human being into a machine, then I should think that he _would_ be." Audrey reached a doorway, turned the handle and practically kicked the door open before shoving me inside.

I stumbled for a moment before righting myself and took a quick look around as Audrey closed the door behind us. The room that Audrey had dragged me over to looked like a mechanic's dream, complete with numerous metal-working stations that there were some people already working at. It looked like they were trying to either repair or build a jeep, which caused me to raise an eyebrow.

"If all you guys needed the sub for was to get you to the volcano, why do you have other stuff on it?" I asked, remembering the two other subs I'd seen when Lea had flown us in.

Audrey snorted, then took my wrist and dragged me over to a quiet corner of the room that didn't have anyone else working at it. "This thing has basically become our base of operations for the last three years. We've got land, water, _and_ air vehicles, and some of them just _happened_ to either get hurt or need an upgrade after our last little escapade involving investigating a kraken attack."

"A kraken?" I repeated, blinking in surprise. Something flickered at the back of my mind, settling back into place among my memories. "You should probably tell Kida about that."

Audrey looked at me oddly, raising an eyebrow.

"Her dad – the old king – used Yobmok to make war machines based on wild animals. You remember the flying fish and the lobster – it'd make sense that he'd make a giant octopus squid-thing too."

Audrey stared at me for a moment longer, then snorted and pushed me down onto a stool. "Yeah, maybe. But after Atlantis, we've been finding a lot of different stuff. Weird monsters that haven't been seen by actual people in centuries, places where all rules of physics go out the window." She waved a hand, then went over to the tool bench and started rifling around in a large toolbox. "I mean, Atlantis _could_ be connected? But at this point I wouldn't be surprised if it wasn't."

I nodded in agreement. "Yeah, I guess. I mean, they kinda were an extremely influential kingdom way back when."

Audrey snorted. "Yeah. Obviously." She came up with a hammer. "How strong is that stuff, anyway?"

I stared at the hammer – which was average sized – with a somewhat nervous expression. "Pretty strong? I mean, I have gotten it dented before, but not recently. I'd be more than a bit worried if that did happen pretty often."

Audrey gave a short hum, tapping the head of the hammer against the palm of her hand. Then she came over and tapped it against my shoulder. "Well, it doesn't look like you're made of paper-thin stuff, at least. That would be a hassle to pound the dents out of." She eyed me with an odd expression for a moment, then raised the hammer suddenly and slammed it down against my right foot.

 _CLANGGG!_

"Uwah!" I kicked out in surprise, causing Audrey to jump back, barely missing getting hit. "A-are you okay?!"

"I'm fine. I've got good reflexes – my dad's a boxer, remember?" Audrey looked between the hammer and my foot. "Hm. No dent. I was expecting at least _something._ " She put the hammer back on the tool bench. "Guess I'll have to figure out some other way to get at how strong your armor is and what exactly it's made out of."

I swallowed. "I'd rather not get beaten to a pulp."

"Pssh. You won't be. Not by me, anyway." Audrey leaned against the table with an indifferent expression. "We've got a bunch of new guys on board – grunts, mostly, but we've been thinking about getting some actual muscle to come around with the main team. They've heard rumors that we were gonna be picking up some people from somewhere, but they probably think we went and grabbed you off a tropical island or something."

"So they don't know about Atlantis," I said.

"Not yet. We don't know whether we can trust them or not with something like that." Audrey sighed. "Anyway, these guys need to be put through the ringer, and I may have already put the fear of God into them, but that doesn't mean they're gonna take one look at you and run."

My brow slowly furrowed into a frown. "Are you saying you want me to _test_ them? Because my fighting style's changed since I was with you guys."

"Test them, test yourself." Audrey shrugged. "Lea and Riku already said they were interested in a warm-up. Thought you could do with one yourself."

I inclined my head at that, frowning. "Well, it _has_ been a while since you guys have seen me…but if we're going to think about getting some muscle on board, we're gonna need to do a judge of character, too. I don't want what happened with Rourke to happen again."

Audrey frowned. "Are you sure it hasn't been two years for you? Because that doesn't sound like something I'd expect from a – what, 18-year-old? And besides, how does _that_ work, anyway? Unless you stepped into some sort of time machine and warped forward eight years after Atlantis—"

"That definitely didn't happen," I replied. I paused, thinking back. "You remember what happened when Lea, Riku, and I left, right?"

"All I remember is that giant keyhole that appeared above the fireplace before you guys took off out the back door. That teleport-y vortex thing the Crystal pulled to get you to where we were was a bit of a surprise, though."

"That 'teleport-y vortex thing' is actually how I normally get around." I paused. "It basically warps time and space. Yobmok calling me and causing me to summon it came as a pretty big surprise for me, though."

Audrey stared at me blankly, like I'd said that I could grow two heads if I wanted. Oh, right, these guys don't know that I can travel between dimensions without a problem. This…was going to be a fun explanation.

"I'll explain it later," I said quickly. "But basically, where I was, time passed more slowly for me than it did for you guys. That's why it's only been two years for me. There's a lot of science and breaking of physics involved to explain why."

Audrey blinked a couple times, then snorted and shook her head. "Well, then you'd better explain it so that we're able to figure out what's going on."

I nodded. "And I think I will."

"You'd better, because—"

I raised my hands quickly. "Not about the portal thing; I know that I'm going to explain everything as best I can." I lowered my hands as Audrey gave me a quizzical stare. "I mean about the whole sparring thing. I don't see anything wrong with testing my mettle against theirs." I grinned. "Besides, I've got a few tricks up my sleeve that I didn't have before, and I don't see why I can't show them off to you guys."

Audrey blinked a couple times, then grinned widely. "We're gonna be hitting the surface in a couple hours; you can spar on the upper deck then. I look forward to seeing how you're style's changed."

I grinned back. "Oh, you're going to be in for a real surprise when I start showing off, that's for sure."

Audrey laughed. "You're already being surprising! You're not as skittish as you were when we went to Atlantis the first time, that's for sure!" She looked at me with a smirk and a raised eyebrow. "If it wasn't for Kida saying your soul was still there, I'd have said you were a different person."

I shrugged, looking a little sheepish. "Well, I've learned a lot in the last couple of years that I've traveled around, that's all."

"You've been traveling?" Audrey's eyebrows shot up. "Where've you—"

"Audrey? Are you in here?"

I stiffened a little in surprise when I heard Milo's voice suddenly; the background noise of the other mechanics working came to a sputtering stop.

"Over here, Milo!" Audrey called back. She scowled and folded her arms across her chest. "You'd think that he'd stay in one place and not reveal himself because everyone up top thinks he's been _dead_ the last ten years."

Milo ran over to Audrey's corner of the room, wearing pants, dress shoes, and a short-sleeved, tan shirt. "There you are. I hope I'm not interrupting anything, but I wanted to talk to Maria for a bit."

Audrey snorted. "Go ahead, knock yourself out. I've done all I can for now, anyway; if I want to figure out what exactly she's made of, I'm gonna have to wait until I can get the proper tools anyway."

Milo nodded, then looked over at me and motioned for me to follow him. I slipped off the stool and followed him out. I caught sight of a few mechanics looking over in our direction with wide eyes, and I raised an eyebrow at them as Milo and I stepped out of the room. Audrey was probably going to set them straight soon enough.

"I know about what you've been doing," Milo said as he closed the door behind us.

I blinked blankly at that, then my eyes widened when I realized what it was he was getting at. "You mean – you know about me being a World Jumper?"

Milo nodded.

"How?"

Milo tapped the crystal that was hanging from the leather string around his neck, similar to the ones that the others wore. "She hasn't told the others yet, but she did let Kida and I know about it."

I stared, looking between the crystal and Milo's face. "Why?"

"She thought it would be important, especially since you've been traveling around and helping other worlds." Milo smiled a little. "Besides, Atlanteans were apparently able to cross over to different worlds at one point, too. I found that out by going through the king's hidden library of books."

"R-really?" I blinked a couple times, wide-eyed. "She didn't tell me that." I frowned. "Why would she keep something like that—"

"Probably because it was a part of the old king's war campaigns."

"Oh. Well then." I looked up at Milo. "Is there…a point to what you're telling me?"

Milo paused for a moment, then nodded. "Yobmok's been feeling a disturbance recently. It might be connected to you, it might not. That's why she's planning on keeping a close eye on you while you're here."

I felt something pulse at the back of my mind in agreement to Milo's words, and I jolted a little. "Ah…well, that explains why I've been feeling that connection. But…what kind of disturbance?"

Milo shook his head. "All I know is that there's something wrong. We'll have to wait and see what kind of wrong it is and whether or not Yobmok should be worried about it."

"Mm." I frowned. "Well…I hope it's nothing too _drastic._ I haven't been traveling around much and I'm worried that if there is something coming that _Yobmok_ 's worried about, I might not be able to handle it."

Milo smirked. "You're looking at the weakest man to ever say that he managed to save a civilization and become king of it in the process. I'm sure you'll do fine."

I hesitated at that, then nodded a little. "I-if you say so."

"Now, come on. I want to explore this place and see if Whitmore has any news on what it is that's going on on the surface. A lot of this technology is beyond me!"

 **Heh heh. Audrey really, really wants to figure out what is going on with Maria.**

 **You guys'll get the next chapter next week! See you then!**


	25. Atlantis Revisit part 3

**SCHOOL IS DONE AND I AM HOME!**

 **Shadescribe - Yup, that's the hope! Audrey doesn't know what she's trying to get into, and Maria has a pretty good idea of what could happen. So hopefully Maria will be able to keep Audrey from Learning Things.**

 **Anyway...here we go!**

 **Chapter 25 – Atlantis Revisit, part 3: Sparring the Newbies**

 **Maria's POV**

When we hit the surface a few hours later, it felt like the entire sub was being hit by some sort of mini-earthquake before it settled down into a gentle rocking sensation.

Kida looked up sharply from the book she had been reading with Milo, looking suddenly alarmed. "What happened?! Did we hit something?"

"Feels more like we just got above the surface of the water," I replied. I put down the book that I'd been reading for the second time in my life – _Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea_ – and rose to my feet. "Which means that there's real sky above our heads and I'm due for a spar." A grin crossed my face.

"A spar?" Milo repeated, raising an eyebrow.

"Yeah. Audrey asked me if I'd be willing to test some of the new muscle that they picked up. I figured that I might be able to get a good judge of character in while I was at it, since Lea and Riku are planning on doing the same thing." My face scrunched up. "Don't want another incident like what happened with Rourke, so I'd rather nip things in the bud before they go too far."

Milo gained a more serious expression and nodded in agreement while Kida's startled expression turned into something else that was a little unreadable. "Sounds like a good idea. We should probably try to find a way up to an exit, then."

I nodded in agreement, then stood up from the chair that I had been sitting in. It was a good thing that it had been bolted to the floor; I doubt that me flying across the room when the submarine had surfaced would have been a good thing.

The door to the library flew open abruptly, and someone ran into the room – a skinny young man, probably someone who ran messages across the sub to people. "We've hit the surface; I can take you up."

"Excellent!" Kida leapt to her feet, nearly knocking Milo over in the process and almost sending his glasses flying off his head. "I cannot wait to see it!"

Milo chuckled as he adjusted his glasses and rose to his feet. "It has been a long time since I've been up here. I doubt that the sea has changed much, though."

"Weren't you seasick the last time you were out at sea?" I asked, raising an eyebrow as Kida started over to the door.

Milo spluttered a bit. "Th-that's not important."

Kida chuckled, grinning brightly. "Come! I do not wish to miss the sun!"

We followed the young man out of the library and through the corridors until we came to a large hatch at the top of a long ladder, probably somewhere in the middle of the sub and on the floor above the one the library was in. The door at the top was already open, and bright light was streaming in—sunlight.

Kida let out a gasp, then scrambled up the ladder, pushing the young man who had led us there aside in her eagerness to get out of the sub and look at the world outside it.

Milo looked over at me, and I smirked and chuckled in response before he followed after her, and I after him.

The one thing that hit my eyes first was how _bright_ the world was. I had to cover my eyes from the sky for a second while my eyes adjusted to the glare of the sunlight bouncing off the water around us. I lowered my hand, looking up at the clear blue sky above us. "So, where on the sea are we, then?"

"Off the coast of Africa." Whitmore appeared in my line of vision, causing me to blink in surprise. "We're far enough out that you can't _see_ the continent, but we're not far from the Straits of Gibraltar, either."

"So, the old theory about Atlantis being somewhere near Greece wasn't quite all that far off?" I was glad that I'd thought to memorize a basic map of the world and that my robotic mind was able to pull it up without too much trouble.

"Apparently." Whitmore smirked. "Now, what's this I hear about you testing some of our new recruits?" He glanced over at a group of people standing a fair distance away, standing on what I guessed was the front of the sub.

I suddenly realized that the submarine was _huge._ Probably helicarrier big, even, but I haven't been on one of those to really say for sure.

I rubbed the back of my head, watching the group at the other end of the sub mill about, probably stretching and doing basic warm-ups. Lea and Riku were standing nearby, and it looked like they were in the middle of a conversation.

"Audrey suggested it," I said. "She thought it'd be a good idea to see if there were any of them who'd be able to stand against what we could do. I'd kind of like to judge their character, too…don't want what happened last time we were all together to happen again, you know?"

Whitmore gained a grim expression. "Yes, I know. I was very careful when selecting crew members this time, but if there were any that managed to slip past, it would be good if the three of you double and triple-checked before we get into searching for that fool." Whitmore's nose crinkled in disgust; I nodded in agreement.

"Hey, Maria!"

I turned my head and caught sight of Audrey waving over at us from the bow of the sub.

"Get your metal butt over here so that we can get this thing started, huh?! Or do I have to drag you over here?"

"You'd better not keep her waiting," Whitmore said with a knowing twinkle in his eye.

I smiled a little. "Definitely not." I then jogged over to where Audrey and the others were standing, noting that there were five guys standing at the end of the boat with various amounts of muscle on their skeletons.

"Wait." One of the men – a dark-haired, dark-eyed fellow with an army buzzcut – looked between Audrey and me. "Are you telling me that we're going to have to fight a girl?"

"It's called sparring, not fighting," I replied. "And if it _was_ a fight, I wouldn't have given you a moment's breather to even make that comment."

The guys looked between each other with uneasy expressions.

"Yes, you'll be sparring against Maria," Audrey said. "She hasn't been around for a while and she's gotten into different stuff, so I want to see what she's made of."

"Even with that armor, she's still exposed," another guy pointed out – lighter brown hair, green eyes, again with the army buzzcut. Was Whitmore grabbing guys from the military for this? Or were they off duty right now? "It doesn't look all that strong on her legs, stomach, and arms. And she could get a concussion if someone hit her head."

"If they can," I replied. I frowned. "Never really thought about getting a helmet, though. Maybe I'll look into it later. As it is, though…."

I rapped my knuckles against my head, hard enough that the guys could hear the metallic feedback that resulted, even if it was slightly muffled because of the synthetic materials that covered my head and made me look human.

"I don't think that you're going to have all that easy of a time giving me a concussion," I finished.

The guys stared at me with wide eyes.

"So!" Audrey clapped her hands together, getting their attention again. "Who's going against who? There's five of you and three of them, so you're not going to be going after them all at once."

The five guys looked at each other again as I folded my arms across my chest and raised an eyebrow at them expectantly. If they were going to choose, judging from the looks they were giving me, they were probably going to try to find a way out of sparring with me.

I frowned at the thought. Why they'd want to do such a thing was a bit mind-boggling. I mean, sure I was a teenager, but I could hold my own. So what was the problem?

It took me a moment to remember from my dad's history lessons that I was right in the middle of the time that women weren't exactly looked at as equals when it came to some of the things that men did. So they didn't want to fight me just because of my gender.

That particular thought made me all the more eager to prove them wrong about that particular idea.

A small smirk crossed my face. "What, are you guys too chicken to take me on? I've faced monsters that are bigger than you before and have come out nearly unscathed!" I motioned for one of them to come forward with my right hand, my smirk turning into a grin. "I bet that you guys can't say that you've faced a demigod of time and lived to tell the tale before. I'll wipe the deck with anyone of you."

That seemed to get their attention. Lea and Riku were staring at me with surprised expressions, while Audrey's eyes were wide with disbelief and doubt.

The dark-haired, dark-eyed man with the buzzcut stepped forward. "I don't believe that you could have done that. You don't look strong enough."

I held out my hands and summoned twin spheres of fire, causing the men's eyes to widen further. "I don't have to _look_ strong enough when I already _am_ strong enough."

"Are you some kind of witch or something?!" demanded a blond-haired, blue-eyed fellow.

"Nah. My dad just got dunked in something when he was a teenager and gave me superpowers." I clenched my fists, snuffing the fire. "So? Who wants to take me on?"

"Dunked in what?" Audrey muttered, frowning.

"All right; fine." The guy with blond hair and green eyes stepped forward. "If you really think that you can take us on, take me on."

My eyebrows rose slightly, an interested expression crossing my face. "Very well, challenger. Let's see if you can take me out." I jumped back, and a blast from the hidden jets in my feet launched me back a short distance, allowing me to land a good distance away from the guys we were going to test and from everyone else, who were standing around the railing at the edge of the deck.

"You can _fly?!_ " Audrey demanded.

I snorted and shook my head. "Nah, not like that. These are just meant to let me keep up with people more easily when I'm on the ground and launch me longer distances when I'm jumping." I tapped on a metallic red boot with a couple fingers. "It'd take too much energy to use them to fly, and besides – it'd probably only count for hovering anyway."

The man who'd said he'd serve as my challenger looked startled at my statement, then shook his head and gained a more determined expression. "Is that a part of your fighting strategy?"

"Normally? Nah." I paused. "There's lots of things that I can do in a fight, actually, but I don't think that doing them all here is a good idea. I'd rather not burn you or accidentally cut a tendon or something." To prove my point, I held up my left arm and clenched my fist.

 _Shing!_

A curved blade popped out of my arm, curving around my fist and acting as a sort of guard.

Audrey yelled an exclamation in Spanish that I'd rather not repeat. The others stared with varying degrees of shock as well.

"So, yeah, not gonna be using that." I relaxed my left hand, letting the blade disappear back into my arm. "So, what are you going to do, bud?"

The man stared back at me with an incredulous expression, then shook his head and ran forward, holding his arms out wide. Was he intending to grab me in a hug?

I sidestepped him, going into a half-crouch and sticking out a leg; the other's momentum kept him going, and his ankles slammed into my armored calf and he fell face-first onto the deck.

"I've fought creatures that were _built_ for speed; don't think that you can startle me just by attempting to come at me and pull me into a bear hug," I said, rising to my feet again.

My opponent got slowly to his feet, rubbing his nose. He looked at me with a furious expression that seemed to hint at the fact that he was annoyed with a woman for having managed to get the better of him at something. Then he got into something of a half-crouch himself before lunging forward again, swinging with his right fist.

I ducked, then rammed into him, knocking the wind out of him and sending him crashing to the deck on his rear end. "You're leaving yourself wide open! Man, you mustn't have all that much experience!"

The other coughed, then pushed himself up to his feet. "You're trying to rile me up, aren't you? Well, it's not gonna work."

"Bravo to the man who doesn't like banter," I replied, rolling my eyes. "You mustn't have much snark in you, do you?"

I think I might have pushed him over the edge at that point, because then he lunged at me again a lot more quickly than he had last time. I almost side-stepped it, but then I decided to do something else.

I stood firm.

He rammed into me with enough force to blow a normal human over, but I was ready for it, with knees bent and hands out and ready to catch his arms as he came at me. There was a loud screeching noise as I scraped against the deck for a moment, but then we stopped short.

The man blinked in surprise, the anger that _had_ been in his eyes fading into confusion.

"A little augmented strength as a result of a mechanical form never hurt anybody," I said. "I never got into sports back at home, though, so after I got my armor I didn't really keep up the habit."

"Wh-what are you saying?!"

I gripped his arms a little more tightly and leaned forward for a moment, feeling him push back against me and send me scraping across the deck a little again. "I'm saying that you're really underestimating me because all you see is the pretty face, not what happens to be underneath."

Then I slipped down and under him, sending him crashing head first into the deck as a result of his own momentum.

I heard scrambling across the deck as I sat up and got to my feet, and Sweet came over and helped my opponent into a sitting position. He looked at the guy's eyes and looked over at me.

"Well, he's dazed, and he might have a concussion," Sweet said flatly. "How'd you do that?"

"I think that was judo. My cousin Joshua was showing me a few moves that could easily disarm an opponent without hurting them over the last year, so I picked up a few things. If I was holding myself back from using my fire and my swords, I figured that I might as well put them to good use." I shrugged. "Joshua's a lot better than me, though. It's almost like he can see which direction you're going to come from without you even taking a step. I don't think that I'll ever get to be that good, though."

"Well, he's not going to be doing any fighting anytime soon." Sweet helped the man to his feet and led him away.

"So, what'd you think?" Lea called over.

"He may have only been hotheaded because he was facing against an opponent he never thought would be able to best him," I replied. "Hopefully, the next four will keep their heads better." I frowned. "You guys _are_ going to spar against them too, right?"

"Ladies first," Riku replied with a knowing smirk.

…well then.

The next guy to step forward was the blue-eyed blond. He actually looked a little nervous, so the short spar I'd just had seconds ago must've made him nervous.

"How strong _are_ you?" he asked.

"I've never tested myself against human opponents, so I don't know if I can really give you a proper answer on that." I shrugged. "But I don't think that I'll be causing concussions to everyone all the time. I prefer more long-range stuff with my fire – oh, and this." I held up my right hand and shifted it into my Buster.

Audrey _freaked._ "Where did you – how – _how do you use that?!_ "

I grinned at Audrey's reaction. "I'm not showing it off here." I let my right hand shift back; my new opponent relaxed considerably. "If we run into anything that deserves a blast of energy to the face, though, you'll know what it does."

Audrey started ranting in Spanish again, and my second opponent made his first move, slowly moving to the left while most of my focus was on the mechanic of the group. I started circling back instantly, surprising him.

"Trying to figure out if I've got a weak point?" I asked, raising an eyebrow.

"Something like that," came the reply. He frowned, trying to keep the nervousness out of his eyes in favor of determination instead. "Did you really fight a demigod?"

"I've fought lots of demigods." No need to mention that they lived in another dimension, especially not in the presence of the main part of the crew. "If you want to be specific about one, make a random guess."

"Time?"

"Basically a giant dragon. A roar from him basically throws you in and out of the timestream and could rip you to pieces. The best thing I did was cover my ears and use my lungs to blow a flamethrower at him."

I got a disbelieving expression.

I shrugged. "Eh. Say what you will about it, but it happened."

My opponent shook his head, then gained a determined frown and charged forward, swinging back his left fist. I moved out of the way, but then his right fist came forward and slammed into my side.

 _Clang!_

"Aah!" My opponent stumbled back, gripping his right hand as his fingers twitched in pain.

"What? Thought that was weaker armor and could make a dent in me?" I motioned to the gray armor that protected my stomach area. "Trust me, that stuff's pretty hard, too. You're not gonna be able to knock the wind out of me that way."

He gritted his teeth. "Take it off and make this fight fair, then!"

"No can do. This stuff's like a second skin, and besides, as soon as I got it, I couldn't remove it, even if I tried. The best I can do to make these fights fair is hold back on the whole fire-blasting, slashing, and shooting thing."

 _WARNING! WARNING!_

I felt a presence come up behind me suddenly, and I whirled sharply as my Buster activated and blasted the figure who was behind me. "Stun Shot!"

The dark-haired, dark-eyed guy was sent flying back a short distance and slammed into the ground, sparks flying from his limbs as he lay there limply.

Exclamations of shock went around the deck as I lowered my Buster and deactivated it; Sweet ran over in order to look the man over.

"He's just stunned and momentarily paralyzed," I called over. "He'll be fine in a few minutes, but I wouldn't recommend sticking his finger in an outlet."

Sweet shot me a look, startled and aghast. "You could have given him a heart attack!"

"The charge is too low for that," I replied. "Momentary heart palpitations, maybe, but I've been hit with plenty Thunder Waves and Thunderbolts to know the difference between the two. My Stun Shots are somewhere just above paralyzing and way below nerve-frying; he's fine. Physically, anyway – I don't know what was going through his head to give him the idea that it would be a good idea to sneak up on me while I was facing down someone else."

I turned to look back at my second opponent as Sweet started to drag the ambusher off. "So, do you want to keep going, or do you want to let Sweet have a look at your hand and just bow out instead?"

The man looked conflicted at that, then nodded slightly and stepped back. "I still think this would have been more even if you'd been without your armor."

"Probably. But then I might have responded by defending myself with small shields of fire instinctively and gotten your fingers burned."

The rest of the fights were handled by Lea and Riku, who went for hand-to-hand rather than pulling out their Keyblades – that would've really titled the fight in their favor. I ended up standing off to the side with my arms crossed over my chest and watched the men's stances, how they went for Lea and Riku, but I mostly watched their expressions.

By the end of it, I was more sure about some of the members of the group that could possibly be let into the inner circle, but I still wasn't entirely sure as to who it was that we could end up letting in.

For that, I would have to actually talk to them, not test their fighting skills, but that was probably not going to happen for a while, depending on what exactly ended up happening now that we were back on the surface of the world.

It made me both nervous and excited: an exploration of a time period that I hadn't lived in back on my world, and a hunt for a man who had turned into an extremely dangerous monster when I had last seen him.

This world was really going to get turned upside down.

 **Heh. Maria's too strong for her own good. XD**


	26. Atlantis Revisit part 4

**It's the week before Christmas and I've got all my presents bought for the family. Now to just wrap them up and - on top of that - make sure that you guys have something to read!**

 **Shadescribe - Yup yup and yup! Maria is definitely a force to be reckoned with, with or without her fire powers. :)**

 **Chapter 26 – Life on the Sub**

 **Maria's POV**

Sweet banned me from the medical bay of the sub.

I wasn't planning on going in there, anyway, but considering that I'd already given one guy a concussion, paralyzed another guy, and broke the hand of a third, it was probably a good idea on his part.

Still, that meant Audrey and the others were pestering me almost _nonstop_ about what sorts of tricks I now had hidden up my proverbial sleeves. Especially since I hadn't shown off everything that I was able to do now.

"How does this cannon work, anyway?" Audrey was looking down the barrel of my Buster with an eager expression. "I want to know everything about this thing so that I can replicate it!"

"Considering that it runs on pure energy?" I gained an uneasy expression. "Something tells me that you're going to have a harder time figuring out how that's going to work than you think. A lot of this is more science-y than I think a lot of people would be able to handle."

Audrey snorted. "Yeah, right. Just give me the blueprints for your right arm's weapon and the instructions on how to make something like it and I'll prove you wrong."

"Then it'll start an arms race and you'll get into a cold war with some country," I replied flatly, pulling on my history lessons from Dad. "So no."

Audrey frowned in disapproval at me. "What makes you think that we're going to get into a cold war? What kind of terminology is that, anyway?"

I rubbed the back of my head with my left hand as I made a nervous noise. "Just nervous speculation, that's all. Instead of a war that's got a lot of casualties building up on both sides, it's one that has people _fearing_ a possible war that could destroy entire countries. Introducing my technology to the world could end up jumpstarting one, and I'd rather not be the reason that one starts."

"Hmm." Audrey frowned. "Well, I guess that would be something that would be pretty bad."

 _"Thank you."_ I started to pull my right arm out of Audrey's hands, but her grip tightened.

"But that doesn't mean that I'm going to keep from recreating this!" Audrey snapped. "I am going to find a way to recreate this, even if you won't give me the blueprints."

Uh oh.

Audrey slackened her grip a little, allowing me to get my Buster out of her grip and shift out of the weapon. Mentally, I made a note to stay as far away from her as I possibly could for a while. There's no way that I was going to let her pick me apart if my back was turned.

I slipped out of the mechanic shop, stumbling a bit as the sub hit a swell. We were still on the surface – apparently, Whitmore's name and projects were known enough that no one was going to come and bother a lone sub moving around in the Atlantic. We were heading towards America at pretty good speeds, though – apparently, there were a couple places that Whitmore wanted to look into as possible places that Rourke could show up, and they had to do with either his past or the places that they'd looked into recently involving rumors and strange creatures.

Cryptids. Anomalies. Just the thought got my Energon running at a faster rate than normal, but that was probably due to the stuff that I'd been watching with Mom in my free time.

 _Gravity Falls_ has to be the _best_ cartoon I've ever come across, just for the record.

"Oi!"

I blinked in surprise, coming out of my thoughts of strange creatures and six-fingered hands at the sound of an indignant French accent, then looked down. "Oh. Hey, Mole. Sorry – I wasn't watching where I was going."

"Yes, I can zee that," the short Frenchman replied pointedly.

He moved passed me in a huff, not looking altogether pleased that I'd bumped into him. I watched him go with a nervous expression, then turned and started down the hall again towards the library. Kida and Milo were intent on spending time there as we made our way back to America, after all, and I figured that spending time with at least them would be a good idea.

Besides, the others would probably notice that I was avoiding the galley and questions about my eating habits as more machine than man would probably be made later. I hadn't _seen_ Cookie yet, but judging by the off-key singing I'd heard when passing by there earlier, he was definitely on board the ship somewhere.

Not sure how he'd take the fact that I'd been transformed into a mechanical being and didn't actually have to eat whatever he laid out in front of me, but I wasn't planning on finding out anytime soon.

"Maria!" Kida grinned widely at me as I stepped into the library again. "You have gotten strong!"

I gave a nervous chuckle at that and rubbed the back of my head. "You think so?"

Kida leapt out of her seat next to Milo and grabbed me in a hug. "Yes. You must have much strength after having traveled and seen so much! World Jumpers must be strong of heart."

I blinked a couple times at that, then chuckled and nodded a little. "Y-yeah. I guess so."

"So!" Kida let me go from her hug. "What happens now?"

"Now?" I blinked in confusion. "What do you mean?"

"World Jumpers attract trouble, do they not?"

I spluttered at Kida's question. "I don't attract trouble, trouble attracts _me._ If you think that my being here is going to make Rourke easier to find, I really doubt that's gonna happen."

Kida frowned in disapproval at that. "You mean you don't know where he is?"

"Not right now." I shrugged. "I haven't gotten any visions since I got here. Everything's been pretty quiet. I doubt it's gonna stay like that for long, though." I paused, then frowned a little. "I don't _think_ that Rourke would have been able to sense me coming, though, so we're gonna have to wait until we run into him again in order to see whether or not my being here makes it easier to find him or harder."

"We'll just have to wait and see," Milo agreed. "In the meantime, I wanted to ask you a few things. You…wouldn't mind, would you?"

"Not really." I shrugged. "I mean, everyone else is off taking care of their own things and I'm definitely not going to be anywhere near Sweet anytime soon." I gained a sheepish grin.

Milo shook his head while Kida looked between us in confusion for a moment before understanding crossed her face.

"So, have you had a chance to read anything that's come out recently and fill us in on what's going on?" Milo asked as I sat down across the table from them.

"From this world?" I shrugged. "Not really. I mean, I could tell you guys about what _could_ happen in the future, but I don't think that spreading that kind of thing around would be a good idea. This may not be my world, but I'd rather not mess up the timeline too much."

"Oh." Milo blinked a couple times.

"But this world is definitely going to be somewhat different from the one you left. There's going to be more technology around, but not much of it in comparison to my time. Although…there are some things that are different." I made a motion to the sub. "Whitmore isn't a real person in my universe, so there aren't personal submarines going around in the Atlantic like this one."

Milo rubbed his chin, thoughtful. "Huh. I guess your world really is different from ours that way."

"Are there other ways that your world is different?" Kida spoke up, interested.

"Well, it's not the 1900s anymore. It's 2016."

Milo stared at me. "You're that far ahead of us. A-and wait – the world _doesn't_ end in 2012?"

"The Mayan Calendar was wrong." I shrugged. "Is that such a ridiculous idea?"

"Er, well…I guess not?" Milo rubbed the back of his head.

"Mayans?" Kida repeated.

"A group of people who used to live south of America," I explained. "They died out a long time ago. No one knows why."

"You mean people in your time haven't figured it out yet," Milo said.

"They've probably got theories, but nothing concrete." I shrugged, then frowned. "Speaking of which, though, are you guys thinking of telling the others about…you know. What I can do? What I _have_ been doing?"

Milo and Kida exchanged looks at my question, frowning.

"It is your power." Kida turned to look at me. "It is up to you whether or not they are going to learn of your ability to travel to other worlds and places that they will never be able to reach."

"I'd keep the whole time travel thing out of it, though," Milo added, adjusting his glasses. "I mean, Audrey…she's starting to freak me out. Even more than usual, I mean. She's _really_ interested in how you work."

"Yeah, I noticed that." I rubbed my right arm. "She's dead-set on making a copy of my Buster. I've already told her that I'm not giving her the blueprints to the design and any instructions on how to make fuel for it, but I think she's still planning on trying anyway. That…could be pretty dangerous—especially if she ends up getting us into an accidental arms race with another country or something."

"Did that happen?" Milo's eyebrows went up.

"Yup. America and Russia. I was born after that, though, when things started to calm down and people weren't so worried about completely losing their entire livelihoods as a result of the entire country getting bombed. Adding my tech to the mix would probably only make it worse."

Milo nodded in agreement, as did Kida, who had an extremely serious frown on her face.

"My people suffered for advancing too far and using Yobmok for war," Kida said seriously. "I would not like to see that happen to the world above."

I nodded in agreement. "Exactly why I'm not giving Audrey any sort of idea as to how I'm put together."

"Good."

"Back to the problem going on right now," Milo said. "What are we going to do about Rourke when we find him?"

"Nobodies aren't my area of expertise; that's Lea's and Riku's," I replied. "From what I know, though, Nobodies are basically what's left over of a person when a creature called a Heartless takes that person's heart – basic personality, emotions, memories, that kind of thing. All that's left over is the willpower and some vestige of the memories of emotions. So Rourke isn't _quite_ Rourke."

"So, the Heartless…." Milo prompted.

"The crystal monster that we fought before," I replied.

Milo's expression paled. "Oh."

"Yeah. Whether or not he remembers that is something that we're going to have to find out when we get to wherever it is that he happens to be." I paused. "And that's…not exactly something that I'm looking forward to, since that means he's going to remember us and what happened to him when he was with us. So we're going to have to be careful when we finally find him."

"You sound like you actually know what you're talking about," Milo noted.

"Only because I've read up on the lore of it; I haven't actually run into a Nobody myself before.

Again, Lea and Riku would know better about this sort of thing than I do, and I wouldn't be surprised if I ended up getting anything wrong."

"We must speak with them, then," Kida said, nodding. "It would be wise to know what it is that we will be facing."

"It would be a good idea if they told everyone, then," Milo remarked, "since we're all going after Rourke and have to put a stop to him before he does something drastic."

I nodded in agreement. "Yeah; we'll have to bring that up with them and make sure to get that set up, then."

I paused. "Maybe I could bring up the World Jumping thing then, too. It would probably make a lot more sense if I mention it then rather than at any other time."

"Perfect." Milo smiled a little. "We're going to be on this boat for a few more days; Whitmore told me that he has engines that is cutting down the time it'll take to cross the sea, so it won't take us as long as it did ten years ago. How about you tell us about your world to pass the time?"

"Without giving away too much about the technology of the future," I added.

"Yes," Kida agreed.

"All right. I think I can give you something interesting to work with, Milo. I know a language that isn't human."

Milo's eyes widened sharply. "A language that isn't human?! How?!"

I laughed. "It comes from another world; one where the people who live there are entirely mechanical. **And it sounds like this."**

My second sentence came out sounding like metal bumping against metal and beeps and clicks, and it caused Milo's and Kida's eyes to widen exponentially.

"That's an _actual_ language?" Milo asked with wonder in his voice.

Kida frowned a little. "I could not understand it. It is not connected to Atlantean in any way."

"That's why I said it isn't human," I replied. "The people are mechanical, not made of flesh and blood. I managed to pick it up last year and I've been getting better at using it ever since then. It's pretty cool to know an alien language, especially since it means I can say things in such a way that most people won't know that I'm actually saying anything. Most of the people back at home just think that I'm making noise."

"Fascinating. So you can use it like a code!" Milo leaned over the table. "Considering that this is a mechanical language and not a human one, do you think it could be possible that I could learn it anyway?"

"Maybe? I don't know what could happen if you tried to _speak_ it, but reading it shouldn't come as a problem." I rubbed the back of my head. "I don't know how good I'd be at actually _teaching_ it, though. All I had to do was basically download the entire language and its grammar into my head. I'll see what I can do, though; it might be kind of fun, having a language that nobody else knows as a written code."

 **Time Break**

We ended up spending a good portion of that day and a lot of the next going over the basic Cybertronian alphabet and what exactly Cybertronians would do with them. At the same time, I still managed to avoid Audrey while running into the others on the ship – both the members of the "inner circle" of the crew and the guys who were actually running the sub. It let me know that Whitmore hadn't told anybody on the sub what was going on other than the fact that he was just going off on a cruise for no particular reason and that he happened to pick up a few friends along the way.

Meaning these guys didn't know anything about Atlantis or Rourke.

Milo and Kida tried to mimic me when I spoke in Cybertronian. They both ended up with slightly sore throats and decided that trying to speak a language that wasn't invented by humans probably wasn't a good idea. Milo was enamored with the actual runes and spent a lot of time writing out my basic definitions for the basic runes and the more complex ones, since words kind of turned into one very complex rune when they were written in Cybertronian.

We ended up making the one for Atlantis, which, honestly…looked a lot like Yobmok, actually. The near-silent connection that I had with the crystal down below the sea seemed to be pleased and amused by that.

Eventually, we had to go to the galley to get food. It was inevitable, and it definitely made what happened…interesting.

Mostly because I was given the chance to see Cookie and turn down his food in the same breath.

"Whaddaya mean, ya don't have ta eat?!" Cookie demanded in a growl.

"It means that I don't have to get my energy from food." I shrugged. "I can absorb it from the sun like a plant if I wanted to."

The old man started swearing up and down with his Southern accent thickening to the point that his words were pretty much indiscernible. Then I grabbed an apple and walked off, eating it as I went over to sit next to Lea, Riku, Milo, and Kida.

"You just said that you don't have to eat," Lea said, frowning. "So why are you—"

"Eating food does take a little energy to digest, but it's still faster than sitting out in the sun for hours on end," I replied. "And if I'm not going to be out in the sun all the time, then I'm going to need to get my energy from somewhere. And besides, I happen to _like_ eating. I just don't happen to like eating everything that's placed in front of me."

"Oh." Lea's eyes widened as his eyebrows shot up. "I gotcha."

Milo stared at me. "You mean that you don't have to eat Cookie's—"

"Nope." I grinned.

"Wish I could do that," Lea muttered.

I finished off the apple and actually chomped down on the core, leaving nothing but the stem behind. "Although, I do have an iron stomach now – literally – so if I was given the option, I wouldn't eat it because of the taste."

Someone cleared their throat near the front of the galley, and I turned my head and caught sight of Mr. Whitmore standing at the front of the room. There was a large bell near him, but since it was only those of us who were part of the "inner circle" were in the room, clearing his throat made enough noise to get out attention.

"Now, I know you all are aware of the fact that we have a bit of an issue on our hands regarding Rourke and what exactly he's up to," he said. "In connection with that, it's been recently brought to my attention that some of our more mysterious crew members might have more to them than what we've seen already." He fixed me with a curious look, raising an eyebrow. "Especially considering that one of us has already said that it's only been two years for her while it's been ten for the rest of us. Milo said you'd be willing to say something, Maria. Think you'd be willing to shed some light on the subject?"

I blinked a couple times at the request as everyone else in the room turned to stare at me. Then I shrugged and got off the bench I was sitting on. "Sure. I was wondering when someone was going to ask, to be honest."

"Are you sure that's a good idea?" Lea responded.

"I'm not quite the same as you are," I pointed out in reply. I started towards the front of the room. "Besides, considering what I've become, I think that some people would know that this sort of thing is nearly impossible considering the technology that's available on this world." I motioned to my armor as I made my way over to Mr. Whitmore.

"This world?" Audrey repeated. "You mean…aliens or something?"

"Mostly 'or something'," I replied.

Then I launched into my explanation of who I was as a World Jumper and – vaguely – covered what had happened to me after I'd left with Lea and Riku from Whitmore's mansion ten years ago for them and two years ago for me, at the end of the events of the first movie.

I didn't go into details about Neo-Mobius or what happened on Neo-Earth or my home world, but I did give enough of an explanation that I hoped they understood.

When I was done, Audrey cursed loudly in Spanish as the others — except for Milo, Kida, Lea, and Riku – stared at me with varying degrees of shock on their faces.

"You have been exposed to so many different kinds of DIRT!" Mole declared, waving a hand in the air. "I request samples!"

"I happen to keep a regular habit of cleaning out any gunk I pick up, so no," I replied flatly.

Mole instantly deflated and folded his arms across his chest, muttering something under his breath.

Vinnie quickly recovered from his shock and shook his head. "So, what kinds of explosives have you run into in other dimensions?"

"The stuff it would take to make what I know of probably doesn't exist in this dimension," I replied. Then paused. "Probably. I don't know what exactly lives beyond the atmosphere of this version of Earth."

"This is a little much for me to wrap my head around," Sweet muttered, rubbing his head. "It sounds like something out of a fantasy book."

"Technically, the genre's science fiction," I replied with a grin. That faded a little, though. "If, uh…if you guys have any questions for me before we get back to America, I'd be willing to answer them to a point; I don't want to give you guys any ideas that could end up throwing everything you know on its head." I shot Audrey a pointed look, causing her excited expression to sour instantly. "There are just some things that just shouldn't be crossed over to other worlds, especially when they're not ready yet."

"What about food?" Sweet's gaze moved over to Cookie, whose jaw had dropped and it looked like his eyes were going to pop out of his sockets.

"Hm." I cocked my head to one side, considering the question. "You know, I do know a few recipes that wouldn't be a bad idea. I haven't really had much of a chance to make something on my own, though, so this should be an interesting experiment."

Cookie shook his head. "You are not settin' foot in my kitchen!"

"Whoever said it was yours?" I responded.

"Let her in there, Cookie," Whitmore said with a weary tone in his voice. "Something tells me that whatever she would be able to put together would actually taste much better than your concoctions."

Cookie started turning red in the face, which only made me grin in response.

"Well, at least we won't die for a little while longer," Packard muttered from across the galley. She put her cigarette down in the ash tray in front of her and snuffed out its light with a sense of finality.

"Let's see what you can do." Whitmore nodded to me, then started to head towards the kitchen part of the galley. I followed after him, Cookie glowering after us.

This trip was just getting better and better.

 **Heh. I couldn't resist putting a shout-out to _Gravity Falls_ in there. It really is my most favorite show right now.**

 **Now that I'm on break, I'm gonna be putting out more chapters than normal - maybe two or three a week, even! So I'll see you...Wednesday, I guess. :)**


	27. Atlantis Revisit part 5

**I promised another chapter this week, did I not? :)**

 **Shadescribe - Yup, Maria's cooking is a definite improvement. And if Maria's got anything to say about it, she's definitely keeping Audrey away from the Protocol! That knowledge is not one that she wants passed out unless in an emergency, and there's definitely not one right now.**

 **...also, remember your request for Maria to summon a certain kind of ally? It should happen near the end of this chapter...**

 **So enough chit-chat! Let's go!**

 **Chapter 27 – Start the Hunt!**

 **Maria's POV**

When we finally reached a private port a good distance from DC a few days later, Cookie was sending me murderous looks every time I came out of the kitchen and led the relieved cooks to set out the meal that we'd managed to put together. I think I saw him dive into the kitchen for a second before we left. I don't know whether or not he shrieked at the fact that any grease we made during the trip was cleverly hidden away in places that he would never be able to find or reach it.

The private port was more like a giant warehouse, and it happened to have Whitmore's name all over it.

I whistled as I came down the gangplank with the others onto the stone dock. "That's a lot of equipment."

Mr. Whitmore chuckled as I took in the large cranes looming over another dry dock. "Well, I do have to send my large amount of money somewhere. A good portion of it goes into charities and the like, but I'm planning on putting together one last big project for some sap who intends to go exploring on the seas someday. Gotta make it as safe as possible first, though, so it's going to take some time before I can let my engineers and architects go forward on the ship's production!"

"You're a real…" I paused, trying to think of the word I was looking for that could best describe what I was seeing. "A real Vernian."

Mr. Whitmore chuckled. "Ah, you saw my collection, then? I do admit, I'm pretty inspired by that old Frenchman's work. If only he could see what we were capable of now."

We made our way out of the dock, moving past men in construction outfits who were going over what looked like large, elaborate plans for a motor of some kind. I wasn't able to get a good look at what they were discussing, because we were out of the building and heading towards a rather expensive-looking car parked on the side of the road outside.

"Prime real estate," Mr. Whitmore explained, nodding to the empty landscape. "Nobody thought of building a dock out here. Ha! I'd like to see what happens in the next few years."

A chauffeur opened the car up for us, and we all somehow managed to fit inside at once.

"What manner of creature is this?" Kida asked, poking at the leather seats. "Or is this a machine, like the submarine?"

"It's an automobile," Milo explained. "It's…kind of like the flying fish back in Atlantis, but they're only made to move around on land."

"They're also called cars," I added, leaning back in the seat a little. The entire car groaned in response, causing me and the others to stiffen a little.

"Well, you must weigh more than you did before, despite your appearance," Mr. Whitmore noted. The car's engine started, and with a rather slow, loud groan, it started moving onto the road and towards the skyline in the distance. "Do you get a similar reaction from vehicles back on your world?"

"For the most part, I actually don't use them," I replied as the others in the car focused on me. "I've got other ways of getting around, and the cars that I do end up climbing into can actually handle my weight."

"Interesting." Mr. Whitmore tapped his chin thoughtfully.

"So, what's the plan now?" Milo asked. "We _are_ going to need to find Rourke and where he is as soon as possible."

"That's right! And in order for us to figure out where he is, we are going to have to go back to my place so that we can discuss strategy." Mr. Whitmore grinned. "After all, you haven't been on the surface world in ten years; a lot can change in that amount of time, especially considering how humanity is advancing forward almost constantly in leaps and bounds! I wouldn't be surprised if the next place we happened to go to was the moon!"

My mouth shifted into a straight line at the comment, almost turning into a knowing smirk that got Audrey to stare at me with an incredulous expression. Milo noticed as well and gave an almost imperceptible shake of his head; I nodded slightly in agreement.

"Anyway, enough talk of those plans for the future; we have other things to worry about." Mr. Whitmore looked around at the rest of us with a serious frown. "Rourke is out there somewhere and is up to something that could prove to very well be extremely disastrous, especially if he intends to bring ruin. Our goal is to stop him before he manages to get too far, but the problem is where. I have maps and locations of strange phenomenon back at my place that should narrow down our options some, but I want to hear your opinions on the matter."

"I think the chance is pretty high that he's going to want to go after Atlantis and find a way in despite the fact that the Crystal can keep him out," Milo said grimly.

I blinked at that, looking at him for a moment as I considered that. "Yeah, that definitely seems likely. We did beat him down there, and he might still want something to do with her. His greed could still be pretty strong."

"Was it his greed that caused him to turn into that?" Lea asked, raising an eyebrow. "Or his pride?"

"If it was his pride, he would want to repair it by taking back the one thing that he managed to lose as a result of our actions," Riku said grimly. "Which would mean that he is still going to attempt to go after Atlantis regardless."

"Which means we've gotta stop him before he can actually get down there," I added, nodding. I paused, frowning slightly as a minor twinge of a headache came and went, giving me more memories of a certain movie sequel. "You know, there might be a way that he's going to be able to find what he needs in order to attempt to do that."

Everyone stared at me at that.

"What do you mean?" Audrey asked, frowning. "Is this one of those 'vision' things that you were talking about?"

"More like a feeling this time than anything else, but yeah." I nodded. "Think about it – Atlantis was a huge, sprawling empire before it dropped beneath the sea. It probably influenced a lot of different people and cultures – maybe survivors from what happened were able to spread stories about Atlantis to the world up here and affected different races as a result."

"You mean, like how Atlantis is the root for all languages," Milo said.

"Yeah. It could have other affects, too—like how homes were built, what sorts of symbolism was used, that kind of thing. My dad's a history teacher, so he's constantly researching that kind of thing and letting the rest of us know if he finds something particularly mind-blowing. Maybe there's some kind of connecting bit of culture here that would get a lot of historians fired up about something."

"Hm." Milo tapped his chin in thought.

"We Atlanteans were a proud, strong race," Kida said, nodding. "Anyone who was able to survive the Flood and not fall below the sea would want the world to know that we still existed in some way."

"That'll definitely be something to look into," Mr. Whitmore agreed. "I'll have some of my people look into it while we discuss where Rourke could make his appearance next. I'd rather not let him have a head start on whatever it is that he might be planning!"

 **Time Break**

When we got to Mr. Whitmore's mansion and got to his rather large, private study, the first thing I noticed was that the place had been _ransacked_. Books were scattered all over the place – some had had their pages torn out – and there were large rips like claw marks going through the painting of Mr. Whitmore that was over the fireplace.

"What in damned blazes happened here?!" Whitmore waved his arms at the mess, nearly hitting Mole in the face with his cane.

"Looks like somebody broke in looking for something," Vinnie noted. He sniffed the air. "I don't smell gunpowder."

"If the intruder had gotten in by _blowing one of the walls out_ I should _think_ that the fire department would have gotten here and soaked everything through already," I replied pointedly. "And that would have done even _more_ damage to the books."

Mr. Whitmore gritted his teeth, tightening his grip on his cane before whirling to look at the rest of us. "Whoever managed to get in here would have to know how to sneak past my staff, which means that it was either someone who already knows my mansion inside and out, or he was able to bribe his way past my staff without an issue – which is a very difficult thing to be able to do with my men, let me tell you!"

"I don't like the looks of those marks," Sweet commented, frowning at the ruined painting. "Whoever would have managed to do something like that has to be pretty big, not to mention some kind of monster."

Lea and Riku both looked at the painting, then over at me.

"That's where the Keyhole was," Riku commented.

"Think that whoever it was could have been trying to get at it?" Lea suggested.

"Either that, or he just doesn't like Mr. Whitmore," I pointed out. "People just aren't aware of Keyholes forming in places unless they're like you two, so I doubt that whoever it was would have known about it."

"Let's hope you're right," Riku replied grimly.

"We'd better clean this mess up and see if anything's missing," Audrey commented.

"I'm gonna check the kitchen!"

Before any of us could say anything to Cookie that could possibly dissuade him from doing that, he was long gone, running out the door to who knows where in the large building.

"Maybe I should check with your staff to make sure that none of them actually got hurt," Sweet commented. "Considering that we aren't going to be making use of the muscle men that you hired as possible help thanks to these three, it might be a good idea to have them moved to the hospital instead of brought down here." He shot me, Lea, and Riku a pointed look.

Mr. Whitmore nodded. "Yes, yes, we probably won't be needing them. I suppose I underestimated what exactly you three were capable of." He nodded to us. "Now, let's get this mess cleaned up and see if I really am missing anything."

The cleanup didn't take too long, considering that we were just picking up books and for the most part trying to figure out if there were any pages missing from them. I found it rather odd and more than a little unnerving to find that most of the books were historical volumes – copies of journals that had been written by explorers and scientists who had long since past.

Not to mention the science ones were, from my perspective, horribly outdated. But I kept that thought to myself and simply did what I could to find the pages that were missing instead.

I paused in grabbing a page for a copy of one of the journals that was kept during Lewis and Clark's journey. _I'm keeping my mouth shut a lot more than I normally would with this kind of stuff, I think. Since when did that happen?_

Another thought occurred to me then. _I hope Yobmok isn't messing with my head as a result of this connection thing and how close we are._

I shuddered and shook my head, then put the page back into its proper place and slammed the book shut, creating an audible _snap!_ that caused the others to look over at me for a moment before going back to what they'd been doing a moment ago. Mind control and mind manipulation…why was it that those things tended to pop up with a freaky regularity for me?

"Anybody found a page covered over in Indian writing?" Milo spoke up suddenly.

Sweet turned his head sharply. "What kind of writing?"

Milo looked at the book his hands, frowning. "I'd guess…it's probably related to the Navajo or Hopi tribes that used to live in the American Southwest." He looked around the room and noticed that all the other pages had been picked up off the floor and put back in their proper books. "…it's gone, isn't it."

"The American Southwest…." I frowned, closing one eye in thought. "Something about that's—"

It suddenly felt like my head had collided with a brick wall.

I winced back and put a hand to my left temple, clenching both eyes shut as something flickered by at the back of my mind.

 _Desert—howling wolves—a figure in a black cloak stands atop a mesa. Something bright blue and shining is gripped in his hand—"Finally. I was waiting for you to notice."—Figure turns, lifts head slightly, eyes glowing an_ extremely unnaturally bright blue _that was cold and emotionless and illuminated the scarred face of a man who should have been—_

I came out of the vision with a gasp. "Rourke's doing something down there. We have to get there _now_."

"Now?" Vinnie blinked a couple times. "Uh…that'd take days by car, and the flying machines definitely don't have enough juice to really be able to cut down the time—"

"Then we'll use other means!" I reached behind me and focused, hearing gasps from the others as the familiar weight of my backpack dropped into my hand. I swung my backpack around in front of me and zipped open a pocket before reaching in and pulling out a familiar, rectangular device.

"What's that?" Audrey asked, interested.

"It's a device that let's me get in contact with friends on another world and summon them to the one I'm in for a short time," I replied with a slight smirk. "I haven't had to do this recently, but if we need to get to the southwest fast, then I know just the group of Pokémon that will get us there. Let's get outside of town so that I can summon them and we can get going."

"Pokémon?" Mr. Whitmore repeated, raising an eyebrow. "That's the name of these creatures?"

"It's their world's name for their animals," I replied. "We probably don't have much time; I'll explain on the way outside of town while I figure out how many we're going to need. And whether or not calling on one to carry all of us would be a bad idea and cause terror in anyone who might end up catching sight of us on the ground…."

The others exchanged looks as I trailed off and activated the device – which was actually the PokeDex that I'd picked up in Unova. I hit the search function and narrowed down the list to all the Flying-Types that I happened to have registered, then looked back up at the others when I noticed they hadn't started moving for the door.

"Well?" I put my hands on my hips, frowning. "We've got to get moving and stop Rourke, don't we?"

"Are you sure that calling on creatures from another world is a good idea?" Audrey responded. "I'd be more willing to trust machines."

"The tech isn't fast enough here to get us across the states in a matter of hours yet," I replied. "I trust my Pokémon; they'll be able to get us over there without a problem." I started out of the room towards the elevator. "Getting them here on the outskirts of town rather than inside it would be a good idea, though – I don't want to freak anybody out if I happen to summon a dragon!"

I reached the elevator that led up and out of the study, then glanced back for a moment to see if everyone was following me. For the most part, they were.

"I'll stay here and see if I can find those other locations that Rourke might be looking into," Mr. Whitmore said. "Something tells me that Cookie and Mrs. Packard might not be quite youthful enough to make the journey." He sent a knowing look at the old woman who was standing next to him, and she gave a nod in response. "You all go on ahead and see what you can do to keep Rourke from whatever his goal might be."

I nodded in response as Sweet closed the door and got the elevator moving up. "You got it!"

 **Time Break**

By the time we'd gotten out to the outskirts of town and I was sure there wasn't anyone else nearby, I'd managed to narrow down the number of Flying-Types that I was going to need to about three.

"Okay, so what now?" Audrey demanded.

I simply smirked and pressed down on a PokeBall symbol that was on the side of the PokeDex. "Atmos! Paula! Swells! I need to get somewhere fast with a bunch of people and I could really use a lift! Think you guys can help?"

The PokeDex started _vibrating_ almost instantly, and I had to hold it away from my head so that I wouldn't lose it when three bright lights suddenly shot out of the PokeDex's upper screen and increased in size, instantly becoming two birds and—"

"Jiminy Christmas, what kind of monster is that?!" Milo yelped, pointing up at the large, serpentine green dragon that was now coiling in the sky above our heads.

"That is Atmos," I replied. "His species are called Rayquaza and are considered to be Legendary-class Pokémon. Think basically demigods in animal form."

 _"Indeed."_ Atmos lowered his head to get a closer look at our group. _"An interesting collection of humans."_

Mole yelped something in French.

"It's just telepathy, he can't read your minds," I said, rolling my eyes.

Paula – a brown-white bird Pokémon with brightly-colored plumage that sprouted from the top of her head – hopped closer, looking Audrey up and down as the mechanic scared the bird down. "So, we're giving these guys rides, huh? Where to?"

"How come this one isn't talking like that one?" Audrey nodded to Atmos, not taking her eyes off the Pidgeot. "It sounds like it's saying the same word over and over again."

"That's just how Pokémon speak, don't worry about it," I replied. "And _she_ can't use telepathy; only Pokémon that have strong mental powers or happen to be Legendaries can. And Paula, we're heading to the American Southwest. We're on the east coast of America right now."

Paula bobbed her head. "Okay. That big desert area, got it." She looked at Audrey again, then motioned with her head for the mechanic to climb on. "Come on, we don't have all day!"

"Yeah!" the black, red, and white bird Pokémon bobbed her head in agreement. "Let's go, let's go, let's go!"

"Most of us are going to have to ride on Atmos, but Paula can carry two and Swells can carry one," I added.

Audrey frowned at Paula, then moved over to the Pidgeot cautiously. Paula bent down a little, letting the mechanic climb on. Then Sweet quickly followed.

"How fast can these guys go?" Sweet asked as he sat down behind Audrey.

"Fast," I replied with a knowing smirk.

"Hm." Vinnie looked Swells up and down, then sat down on the Swellow's back. "You're stronger than you look."

Swells trilled back, somehow managing to grin around her beak.

"Okay. That means that the six of us get to ride on Atmos." I motioned between myself, Lea, Riku, Mole, Milo, and Kida.

Mole made an odd noise. "I am not meant for flying."

 _"You will be safe with me."_ Atmos lowered his head, one large eye focusing down on us. _"I won't let you fall off; the wind currents will not send you flying."_

Kida started climbing up onto Atmos' head almost immediately. Milo started following after her, actually looking more like he knew what he was doing than when I'd last seen him two years ago. Mole moved up to Atmos' head, but hesitated at climbing up. Lea and Riku ended up grabbing Mole's arms and climbing up with him before I followed after them, using the jets in my feet to jump up onto Atmos' head.

 _"Are we ready?"_ Atmos rumbled.

I looked at the others on Swells, Paula, and Atmos, then nodded. "We are."

 _"Good. Let us go."_

With that, Atmos started to rise into the air, causing Mole to shriek and press himself against Atmos' scales. Swells and Paula rose, as well, then turned to face inland as we rose higher and higher, then shot off into the distance.

 **Heh heh. Pokemon Assist!**

 **I'll see you guys next time with the next chapter - things are bound to get interesting soon, considering where they're going...**

 **And if you guys are aware of the direct-to-DVD "sequel" that came out for Atlantis, I'm taking some elements from there and just messing with them as I please. I liked the bit in the area they're going to now, but I'm planning on doing things a little differently than how they did in the movie.**

 **And as for Milo's comment on "Indian" writing, they didn't use "Native American" back in the 1940s all that much, so that's my excuse for it - gotta keep this thing culturally and historically accurate, ya know? Doesn't mean Maria's gonna fall into that habit, though.**

 **Anyway, I'll see you next time!**


	28. Atlantis Revisit part 6

**IT IS CHRISTMAS EVE AND I AM 20 CHAPTERS AHEAD OF YOU!**

 **...seriously, I just started work on chapter 48 today. No joke.**

 **Anyway, since Christmas day is tomorrow and I am going to be not on the computer for a good portion of the day, I thought it might be a good idea for me to post an extra chapter this** **week! Next week will only have two chapters, though (at least, that's my plan, but considering that New Year's Eve is next week you just might end up getting three chapters anyway).**

 **Shadescribe - Yup, that's the idea! And yeah, Atmos is pretty clever; I only came up with it recently though, so I don't have any Rayquaza named that at the moment - yet, anyway. Usually I end up naming them "Ray," and there was one time I named one "Quazar." I can still go over to a Name Rater in OR if I want one named Atmos, though...**

 **In any case, here's the chapter!**

 **Chapter 28 – Cowboys and Sprits**

 **Maria's POV**

Riding with Mole on Atmos' head wasn't exactly what I would call "fun." He was screaming for a good portion of the trip, then ended up curling into a ball and shivering for the rest of the way. Kida really seemed to enjoy it, though, especially since she got a good bird's eye view of the world below us as we shot over the Great Plains and right into the desert that was the American Southwest.

"Is this entire place one big world?!" Lea called over the wind.

"Yeah!" I called back. "Why wouldn't it be?"

"It seems a lot bigger than the other worlds that I've been to!"

I blinked at that, gaining a bit of a blank expression. "Really? I was under the impression that each world was a version of Earth that was just a little different. Maybe you guys only saw certain regions of each world instead of the entire world."

"No, he's right," Riku replied. "The other worlds were smaller. This one is…huge in comparison. If Rourke is anywhere in this place, it is going to take a lot of time to find him. He could be several steps ahead of us, perhaps even several regions ahead of us."

I shook my head. "The places where Atlantean culture has survived long enough to still have a visible mark left behind are only in a few places. The American Southwest is one of them. I've got a vague idea as to what we could end up facing, but we have to actually get down there first."

"Is that the desert?" Kida pointed down off the edge of Atmos' head.

I leaned over, putting a hand on Atmos' head in order to get a better look at the world below. When I saw the mass of tan-yellow colored land below, I nodded. "Yup, that's it! Atmos, Swells, Paula! Head down and land somewhere not too close to civilization!"

 _"Of course, Guildmaster."_

Atmos started to circle downward towards the desert below. Paula and Swells caught sight of the Rayquaza's movement and followed after us. Mole only whimpered and curled in tighter on himself as we got closer to the ground at high speed.

I grinned as Atmos came close to the ground and rushed passed a mesa before curling up and slowing to a halt in the middle of nowhere. We must've been in the right area, considering where I'd seen Rourke standing on top of a mesa in my vision. "Okay, guys! I think this is the area that Rourke was in."

"Really?" Audrey yelled over as Paula circled around Atmos' head before heading towards the ground. Atmos moved his head down to the ground a moment later, letting us slip off as Swells and Paula landed on the ground.

Mole rolled off Atmos's head and promptly buried himself in the rocky soil beneath our feet, making noises of relief and happiness at the fact that he was back on solid ground.

"Thanks for the lift, guys," I said, nodding to Atmos, Paula, and Swells. "Tell Pika I said hi, okay? And let him know that I'm planning on coming around soon to see how you guys are doing."

"He's been worried sick about you, you know," Paula said pointedly. "Since you haven't called on any of us since that whole incident where Cyrus came back from the dead and Khrista got everything back to normal."

I gained a sheepish expression. "I haven't needed you guys' help since then. But if I need a hand, I'll make sure to call one of you guys over, okay?"

Paula bobbed her head in response, then glowed brightly before turning into a small, white sphere that winked out of existence. Swells followed a moment later, and then finally Atmos, whose flash of light probably would have blinded me for a moment if I'd been human.

"Where did they—"

"Back to their world," I replied, cutting Audrey off. "If we need them again, I'll summon them again, but for now I don't think that having a big dragon following us around would be a very good idea." I looked up at the mesas, frowning. "I know I saw Rourke on top of one of those in my vision, but I'm not entirely sure which one he could have been on, or what exactly he was up to." I bit my lower lip. "I think there was something else in the area, too…but I can't quite—"

 _Awoooooooo!_

The sound of the howl sent a chill down my spine, and I stiffened abruptly.

Mole stiffened suddenly, pulling his head up out of the ground. He sniffed the air, then let out a yelp. "Sandstorm! We must find cover before the sand cleans us of our flesh!"

"I'm a little more worried about the coyotes," Sweet responded.

"Look!" Audrey pointed out at somewhere behind us.

I turned to look where she was pointing, and my eyes widened abruptly when I caught sight of a pack of animals rushing towards us in the distance. It almost looked like a cloud of sand that was being carried by a blast of wind that was starting to hit us in the face – no, it was definitely a pack of animals – no, it was….

"Everybody stay close together!" I yelled as the howling started to grow louder. I moved closer to Riku and Lea, the others following suit and looking at me with hesitant, doubtful expressions. "Hopefully, they'll just pass us by and leave us be!"

"It doesn't look like that's gonna happen!" Vinnie called back over the howling.

Before I could respond, the cloud of sand smacked into us.

The howling was almost deafening; I could see glowing red eyes in the sand-made faces of the dog-like animals that ran around us – coyotes, I think they were, but I'd never seen one up close. Or one that could easily be broken apart and put back together while still somehow remaining solid.

My core thrummed in my chest; I felt a number of eyes fix on me as the sand turned into a tornado that obscured the mesas from sight and whipped my hair all over the place. I could feel the sand scraping against my armor, making me worried that it might end up eroding my armor away and leave my inner workings exposed to the elements.

Then the sandstorm suddenly dropped. I blinked a couple times and shook my head, sending sand scattering out of my hair as I made sure that what we were looking at wasn't an illusion.

"Where are we?" Audrey asked in confusion, looking at the building that we were suddenly standing in front of. "Did those wolves just…take us somewhere?"

"Looks like it." Milo put a hand on my shoulder, then paused. "Wow, your armor's really smooth."

"Hm?" I touched my other shoulder, blinking in surprise when my fingers slipped across my shoulder guard. "The sand…it must've scraped against it enough to smooth it over."

"We should probably head in there and ask around a bit," Sweet suggested, nodding to the building that we'd appeared in front of. "They might know something about what just happened, even if it's just rumors."

"What about Maria?" Lea pointed out. "That armor is going to stand out—"

"Not unless I do this." I activated my Light Refractor. Instantly, my armor flickered, then disappeared from sight, clothes taking their place: blue jeans, red T-shirt, and an orange jacket, with white tennis shoes with red stripes on my feet. "See? I can still blend in."

The others looked at me with surprised expressions.

"Well, if she's got a disguise, then let's head in there." Lea promptly started towards the building. Riku and I followed after him, the rest of the group trailing behind.

Audrey snuck up behind me. "Can I have the design for—"

"It's a light hologram machine and you're not getting it," I replied flatly.

Audrey muttered a curse in Spanish.

We stepped into the wooden, one-story building and were instantly met with the sight of shelves lining the walls, covered in different trinkets. Glass cases were sitting out, with weapons lying inside on display.

And there was a portly man in a cowboy hat behind the counter who looked at us with an expression of surprise.

"Well, well! I wasn't expecting any visitors today!" The man moved around the counter and moved toward us, grinning under his handlebar mustache. "Welcome, welcome! What are you travelers doing around here? You certainly look like you aren't from around here."

Milo stepped forward. "We're looking into something." He paused, then asked carefully, "Have you heard rumors about sandstorms and coyotes?"

The man snorted at that statement. "Sandstorm coyotes – you sound like you've been talking to the Indian locals. Those are just a rumor that they like to tell to keep people from wandering onto their sacred sites—like there's some sort of guardian spirit of the desert that's keeping their sacred places protected from outsiders. Some have even said that the coyotes are the spirits of people who trespassed on these places and now have to pay for their crimes." He shook his head. "I think they're overly superstitious. Who ever heard of spirits that were trying to pay for their sins?"

I raised an eyebrow at that. I could think of more than a few examples from Neo-Mobius involving Pokémon who had to do exactly what was being suggested. Considering that this guy didn't know anything about Ghost-Types, though, I decided to keep my mouth shut on _that_ particular matter.

However, I wasn't about to stay silent.

"You'd be surprised at the kinds of things that seem like false tales that actually turn out to be true," I said.

The man frowned at me. "Don't tell me that you think that tale is true. There's no way that a spirit could possess a cloud of sand – it's just impossible!"

"Maybe." I shrugged. "But I've seen things that make sense to some people in different ways. Maybe they could be creatures made of sand that seem to be spirits, but actually aren't."

The man's frown deepened, and he sighed and shook his head. "Believe what you want. I'm not going to stop you." He looked at the rest of us. "Is there any other reason that you might be here for? Because otherwise I'm going to have to ask you to either buy something or get out of my shop."

I couldn't help but feel like there was something about this guy that just felt…off. I knew he was familiar – vaguely, memories were trickling into my mind again of seeing this guy interact with the others and talking about the sand coyotes while also covering the rumors of a secret hidden, abandoned village carved into the side of a mesa somewhere.

"We're looking for someone," Lea spoke up. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Kida start to circle around the shop. Milo noticed and followed after her. "Big guy, black robe with a hood that looks really warm for the weather—"

"And unnaturally blue eyes," I added quickly, causing Lea to look at me sharply.

"Hm." The man tapped his chin. There was a spark in his eyes that seemed to hint at _something,_ but I wasn't quite sure what it was. Whatever it was, though, I didn't like it very much. "I _might_ have heard something about someone with that description, but I don't think that I've seen him. How unnatural are we talking for the eyes, though?"

I saw that Lea and Riku were both still looking at me, as were the others. "Really bright and cold."

"You mean like how your eyes are bright?" the man asked, looking at me with a curious look. "Like sapphires?"

I shuddered. "No; they're like clear water up by the Arctic. Mine are more like Caribbean waters."

"Hm." The man stroked his handlebar mustache. "Well, again, I've heard of him, but I don't think I've seen him. You might want to ask around in town a few miles back; the people will know if this person that you're looking for might be in the area."

Kida suddenly let out a loud exclamation from across the shop. "The Guardian!"

"Hmm?" The man turned in order to look over at Milo and Kida, the latter of whom was waving around what looked like a little statue of a human figure made of clay. "Ah, you know about that particular legend, huh?"

"He's a legend here?" Milo asked, blinking.

The man gave him an odd look. "Well, of course he is. The story goes that he protected the people who used to live here once. He was a medicine man, with strange capabilities to heal even the most grievous of wounds. The stories he told were so fantastical and out-of-this world that they are still passed down today, of another civilization far beyond the understanding of the people at the time." He chuckled. "It's a nice little tale to tell the tourists who come in, but the Indian tribes who live around here are pretty tight-lipped about the stories if tourists ask them about them."

I frowned a little at that. Maybe Milo, Kida, or I would be able to ask them about the stories, but I wouldn't know unless we actually managed to find them.

The door opened behind us. "More tourists taken by your twisted tales, Ashton Carnaby?"

I turned when I heard the voice, blinking in surprise when I saw the old Native American who was standing in the doorway. There was sand covering his boots – he was clearly tracking it in from outside.

"They are _not_ twisted!" Carnaby shot back. "I am just working with what you people told me. It's not my fault that you people keep secrets!"

"We keep secrets from nosy outsiders for a reason," the man replied evenly as he stepped past us. He paused and looked down at me with a curious expression before noticing Kida and Milo standing on the other side of the shop, looking at him with curious expressions.

The man strode over to them, scattering sand in his wake. I danced back a little from the spray so that none of the sand ended up in the jets in my feet.

"That is an interesting relic from time long past." He stopped in front of them and, instead of reaching for the statue in Kida's hand, took hold of the crystal shard hanging around Milo's neck. "Where did you find this?"

Kida grabbed the crystal from the man's grip and glared at him defensively. "I've had it since I was born. Why does it matter to you?"

The man said nothing, instead looking at Milo and the crystal he had hanging around his neck. "And you?"

Milo gripped the crystal around his neck, hiding the shard from sight in his hand. "It was given to me," he replied honestly. "Freely, and without malice or greed involved."

That seemed to satisfy the man, because he turned away from them…and locked eyes with me. Once again, he eyed me with a curious expression, then looked back at Kida and Milo. "I can give you a ride to the next town, where you may find food and shelter for the night. I am sure that, if you have any needs for travel, we would be willing to send you on your way in the morning."

Carnaby made a spluttering noise. "Since when have you ever been hospitable?!"

"Perhaps you simply need to learn to be hospitable in return," the other replied, turning with a stiff stance to look at the round man in disapproval. He looked back at the rest of us, then motioned for us to follow him and walked out of the shop again.

Kida came over to Carnaby and thrust the small statue in his face. "What will it take for me to get this?"

Vinnie ended up paying for the statue ("you owe me, Milo. Like, a big, big favor.") before we stepped out of the shop and saw that the Native American was sitting in an old pick-up truck, leaning out of the driver's side window as he watched us leave the building. He motioned for us to climb into the back, then started the engine and drove off into the desert.

As we followed the dirt road onto the highway that was on the other side of a pair of large, wooden gates, I looked back at the shop that we had left behind. For a moment, I thought I caught sight of a cloud with beady red eyes behind the building, but then it was gone.

"Who are you?" Milo asked into the open back window of the truck's cab.

"I am called Coyote," the man replied, causing me to jolt a little. That name…there as something familiar about it. "My people have lived on these lands for generations; we know far more about what has come and gone than that man with whom you were speaking with. He only sees what is on the surface. We know far better what happens in this place. Like when our sites are disturbed by people of malice, or found by people who are connected to our most venerated ancestor."

My core thrummed in my chest again. "Then you know about Rourke's shadow."

The others looked at me as Coyote inclined his head a little, not taking his eyes off the road.

"The shadow of a man who has done things that should not be done," Coyote said. "Yes. We know of him. He has caused much trouble for us here."

"What has he done?" Audrey asked. The truck went over a pothole. Mole bounced away from the side of the truck and into the middle, closer to Sweet.

"He has taken sacred relics from the burial grounds of our people, and has found secrets that need to be kept," Coyote replied. Somehow, he didn't need to raise his voice over the wind that rushed passed us; his voice remained constantly quiet. "He has taken the weapon of the Guardian from his tomb, and intends to use it for a dark fate."

"The weapon of the Guardian?" Sweet repeated.

"Sounds like it's dangerous." Vinnie paused. "And powerful."

"Kida, you recognized the Guardian." Audrey turned to look at Kida, motioning to the small statue that Kida had in her hands. "What do you know about him?"

Kida paused at the question, looking down at the little statue and rubbing at the carving with her thumbs. "Guardians are people who are charged to protect the royal family. They were teachers, advisors, and guards. Father sometimes sent them out to educate the people. None of them were in the city when…."

Oh.

"Then that means that one of them must've made it here," Riku realized.

"And that weapon must be something from Atlantis." Lea frowned. "We're going to have to find him before he does who knows what with it."

"What sort of weapon is it that the Guardian had?" Milo asked, looking between Coyote and Kida.

"A spear of light," Coyote replied.

Something flashed at the back of my mind, more memories coming in from the movie that I remembered seeing years ago. The connection back to Yobmok suddenly started thrumming full-force out of alarm in response to that, and I think I actually felt her _panic_ at least a little.

I gripped the side of the truck, the metal groaning a little under my fingers. "Not good."

The others looked over at me at my comment.

"We have to find him," Milo said.

"I agree," Coyote replied. "I believe he has yet to leave this place; something keeps him here."

"Then let us find him before we lose sight of him!" Kida exclaimed. "If that weapon is from Atlantis, it must be returned to Atlantis and destroyed!"

More memories flickered into the back of my mind from the movie – Kida, in her regal outfit, sending a spear made of stone and with a crystalline spearhead – up to be absorbed into the Crystal. I nodded a little.

"You said you were taking us to a place where we could spend the night," Audrey spoke up, "but this is a lot more important."

Mole nodded in agreement. " _Wi wi!_ Rourke is dangerous!"

"So, could you maybe tell us where he is so that we can take him out before he does who knows what?" Audrey suggested.

"That would not be wise," Coyote replied. "He is stronger when the sun is not upon him, and if we were to go there now, the sun would be gone."

I glanced up at the sky, and noticed with surprise that the sun was indeed setting; it hadn't been before.

"And it is likely that he will come to you."

My attention moved to the back of Coyote's head abruptly.

"If he is attracted to the people and the weapons of the Guardian's people, then he will be attracted to your location," Coyote said. "Especially as one of your number is a Crystal herself."

 _Awooooo!_

My core thrummed again, and everyone's gazes moved towards me.

I swallowed. One hand started to make its way up to my chest, but I forced it down. "A-are you saying that…I'm _like_ Yobmok?"

"If that is what you call the original Crystal, then yes." Coyote paused. "You have many adventures to tell, I sense. Will you speak of them when we reach my home?"

"Are you sure that going to your home is a good idea? Vinnie responded. "I mean, Maria's a beacon. Like 'hey, I'm here! Rourke can come and try to kill me and everyone else'! Not a good idea."

"You will be safe from harm," Coyote replied. "Where we are going, Rourke will not be able to follow."

The mysterious tone that Coyote's voice had taken made me cock my head to one side a little. It felt like he was keeping secrets.

"Where _are_ we going?" Milo asked.

"A place that no one has seen before."

 _Awooooo!_

Sand suddenly exploded out from underneath the truck, glowing red eyes mixed in with the sand as it whipped around the truck, causing us to yell out in alarm as it started moving faster and faster. Within seconds, it had completely blocked off any view of the road and lifted us up _out_ of the truck bed.

I closed my eyes tightly and curled in on myself instinctively. Of course the man driving the truck would be the Native American called the trickster spirit Coyote.

 **I really like Native American legends - I'm not Native American myself, but there's just...something interesting about them. Like the fact that there is a trickster spirit named Coyote who can either be helpful or harmful.**

 **Anyway, I'll see you guys next week with the next chapter!**


	29. Atlantis Revisit part 7

**hi, guys! I hope your Christmases went well! I know mine did! :) Also, recommendation: read _The Sphere_ by Michael Chriton (at least I think that's how his name's spelled...). _The Sphere_ has a bit to do with one's imagination and how powerful it really can be. It's one of the first novels I read from that particular author, and it's definitely one of my favorites.**

 **Shadescribe - Yeah, Coyote's strange that way. In the direct-to-release movie, he mostly acts like a mysterious old man who wants to protect his home from outsiders, with only a little bit of the trickster in him. I kinda took that stance here. He doesn't feel like the Loki-type of trickster, honestly...**

 **Anyway, here comes the next chapter!**

 **Chapter 29 – He's looking for what?**

 **Maria's POV**

I grunted as my side collided with rock-hard ground; the collision would have knocked the breath out of anyone else. I lay there for only a moment before scrambling to my feet in order to have a look around at where we had ended up.

"Oh boy." I swallowed when I saw the rock walls that rose up and away from where we were. "This is…."

"Wow…." Milo started to rise to his feet moment later, the others following suit rather quickly. "Where are we?"

I swallowed. "This is where the Guardian was." I nodded up to the large, Atlantean carving that was in the wall. "We're _inside_ one of the mesas."

The others turned and looked at me.

"How do you know?" Audrey asked.

I paused at the question. "I didn't tell you everything about how I know about other dimensions – other worlds. Most of the knowledge I have comes from fiction. All this," I motioned to the square-shaped buildings stacked on top of each other, the ornate carvings in the walls that rose high above our heads, "I saw in a movie. Two, actually – something like this happened in the sequel, but…Rourke didn't come back."

"How is that possible?" Audrey asked. "A _movie?"_

"I had my suspicions, but I hadn't considered that you would be willing to admit such secret truths."

We turned, and Coyote stepped out of the shadows. Next to him was a coyote that was very clearly made of nothing but dusty sand, held together by something other-worldly. The red eyes looked dangerous but seemed to be, at the same time, not as threatening as they could be.

Kida moved forward. "Where have you taken us, and for what reason?"

"This is my home, as it always has been." Coyote motioned to the abandoned buildings around us. "As for my reason, I sense that you speak the truth in that you are searching for the shadow that is moving to cause harm rather than help. I also sensed that the child with you is more than she seems." He looked over at me.

I frowned, feeling more defensive of Coyote's stare. "How? I know that you're technically a spirit of some kind, but I don't think that something like that would be easy to pick up."

"You would be surprised at what a person affected by the very power that now keeps you alive can sense," Coyote replied with a knowing smile on his face. His expression dropped to a more serious one a moment later. "This Rourke, as he was once called, is here in this region. He has not left for reasons that are presently unknown to me, as he is a shadow and that has clouded my ability to sense his true intentions. I do not believe that even you could be entirely aware."

"He said that he'd try to ruin us," Sweet said. "We _saw_ him when he said that."

Coyote frowned slightly. I copied his expression.

"Lea?" I looked over at the redhead. "You know what Nobodies are like. What do you think?"

Lea frowned at that while the others looked at him. "Organization XIII was fighting to get their Hearts back – to be whole again. I don't think this guy's fighting for that. He's got to have some other goal that is the reason that he's been around for so long."

"It probably is connected to what he was feeling in his last moments when we saw him last," Riku remarked. "Does that sound right, Lea?"

Lea nodded. "Probably, yeah. Which means that he's out for _revenge,_ not so much becoming whole again."

"And how do you know?" Audrey frowned.

Lea put a finger to his nose, closing one eye. "I went as Axel for a while."

The others stared at him with disbelieving expression.

"Anyway, if this guy is trying to get revenge instead of becoming whole, he's running on his need for revenge instead of memories of his emotions. He's got to be uneven mentally."

"Which means he will revert to his base form if he's consumed by it," Riku said. "We need to find him before that happens and he causes more Nobodies and Heartless to appear."

"No Dream Eaters?" Vinnie prompted.

Lea waved a hand carelessly. "Those were a one-time thing for you guys; the other ones are a lot more worrysome."

"So, back to Rourke," I said. "If he's still in the area, then how are we going to get his attention and do something about him before who _knows_ what chaos he could end up causing?"

I turned to look at Coyote. "You said he would be attracted to me because of my core. Why?"

"It is a source of light," Coyote replied. "Attached to a soul or not, it does not matter to him. You are a similar source of light to Yobmok."

"Which he wasn't able to get when he was with us in Atlantis," Sweet noted.

Mole hissed and cursed something in French.

"You had a reason for bringing us here besides the fact that you sensed we were speaking truth," Kida said, frowning. "The weapon Rourke stole from the Guardian's grave. You wish to have it found as well, and returned here?"

Coyote inclined his head. "I am charged as its guardian, your majesty. What guardian would I be if I was not able to protect a site sacred to my people?"

"Does that mean you'll make us leave the weapon here, rather than take it back to Atlantis to return it to its people?" Milo asked, frowning.

My core thrummed at. "I think Yobmok wants it to come back."

"If that is what she wishes, then I will allow it to return," Coyote replied. The sand-spirit next to him bowed its head, closing its eyes for a moment. "However, it must return here first. A thought that was shared among us was that, if the shadow wishes for revenge, perhaps he could be attracted by the one thing that he wishes for."

My core thrummed again; I sensed worry through the connection. "You mean me. I've got a core like the crystal that he went after, and he's going to try and come after me."

"I will not allow it," Kida said shortly.

"I am afraid that Rourke would have tracked your friend's location as soon as she left the safety of your secluded world," Coyote replied.

 _"Finally. I was waiting for you to notice."_

I winced as I remembered Rourke's voice from the vision I'd had back at Whitmore's mansion.

"There's a chance that he was setting a trap," I said carefully. "I think…he was _aware_ of the fact that I get visions sometimes, and knew when one was focused on him. I don't know how – that hasn't happened to me before – but I guess…there's a chance that's possible?"

"You are still young, and you still have much to learn," Coyote replied. "The Guardian spoke of people like you, how they were chosen by worlds beyond the stars as the catalyst needed to keep them from falling into chaos. 'Visions', as you call them, are calls for help, as well as calls of challenge. It would appear that the shadow has learned how to utilize this one-way form of communication."

That…didn't sound good.

"Then we must prepare for his arrival." Kida whirled, looking at the cube-shaped buildings carved into the rocky cave wall inside the mesa. "We will need a plan."

"Of what kind?" I responded. "Because I don't think that it'd be a good idea to end up getting all this destroyed in a fight." I motioned to the abandoned city we were standing in.

"You will not," Coyote responded. "He must not set foot in this place again."

"This entire civilization was built into ze inside of ze mesa," Mole commented, tapping the ground thoughtfully. "Maybe Rourke will be confronted on top of it? He will not be getting in zat way, especially if he is not after what is inside it now."

"Lea and I will need to be the ones to fight him," Riku spoke up. "We know how to handle Nobodies and send them back to the place from where they came from. Our weapons work just as well on Nobodies as they do on Dream Eaters."

"Which means all we need is a way to get him up there," Sweet commented.

Everyone looked over at me, Milo, and Kida.

I swallowed.

Milo and Kida exchanged concerned expressions.

"I would say that it should be me," Milo said, "considering that I was the last person to see Rourke as a human before…that happened." He looked over at me. "But Coyote's right; Maria's going to attract his attention a lot more than the rest of us ever could because her crystal's managed to grow in strength and size somehow despite the fact that it's only been two years for her rather than ten."

A buzzing noise started up at the back of my head; I shook it in order to clear the noise out, but it only became stronger. For some reason, there was blue on the edge of my vision as well, but for the life of me I couldn't figure out why.

"I cannot allow her to be put in danger," Kida hissed in disapproval. "Maria is a child still! Rourke will take her and do who knows what to her crystal and her soul! That is a fate that cannot and should not—"

 _"And will not."_

 **3** **rd** **POV**

The group turned sharply to look at Maria when a voice that sounded like hers and at the same time not came out of her mouth.

 _"Maria has seen things and done things that have saved entire worlds."_ Maria's body shifted slightly, her eyes glowing a pure, bright blue as her face remained relaxed and loose. _"She is no longer a child as a result of her actions."_

"Yobmok?" Milo asked in alarm. "What are you – how –"

 _"As the crystal she carries was once a part of me, it is a simple matter to transfer a portion of my consciousness to this form for communication. The Shadow is coming quickly. If you are to prepare, do so quickly, for he will find this child and take her if he is not sufficiently caught off-guard."_ Maria's body turned to look at Coyote and the cave that was carved into the wall behind him. _"The Guardian's weapon will cause more harm than good if left in his hands. It must be returned."_

Coyote nodded.

 _"Matim,_ I am not about to let Maria place herself as a possible sacrifice to draw Rourke in," Kida said seriously. "I care not how many worlds she has saved, she is a child compared to me! To us!"

 _"There is truth in what you say, but Maria knows how to defend herself well. Or have you forgotten of her show of power when you were still on the water?"_

"The guys we were thinking about replacing Rourke with," Audrey muttered. "She said she was holding back."

 _"Put some form of trust in the woman who is protecting your world from further harm,"_ Yobmok spoke again. _"She has good allies. She will not fall. The worlds beyond have need of her yet."_

Milo put a hand on Kida's shoulder, startling the Atlantean at his touch. "I think she's got a point. Maria did say that she's been through a lot, and considering that she's not made of flesh and blood anymore and is still able to defend herself, I wouldn't be surprised if she's able to surprise Rourke."

Kida bit her lower lip at that, hesitating. Then she nodded a moment later. "All right. But I wish to be up there as well. I will be the one to reclaim that weapon."

 _"If that is what you wish,"_ Yobmok replied. Maria's body gave a slight bow, eyes closing, and then she stumbled forward abruptly and crashed to the ground.

"Ow!" Maria got up on her hands and knees, using one hand to rub at her head. "Geez, what was with that? It feels like I've been whacked on the inside of my head or something." She started to get up to her feet, then noticed the off looks she was getting from the others. "…what?"

The rest of the group exchanged looks for a moment, then shook their heads. The same thought seemed to be going through their minds: _she doesn't know, so don't bring it up._

"It's nothing," Milo said. "We'd better head up to the top before Rourke gets here and catches us off guard."

"Sounds good." Maria dusted herself off, her clothes flickering out of existence and revealing her armor again.

"We'd better head up, then. No telling how far away he is from here or how quickly he's going to get here. I'd rather not take any chances and let all this get destroyed in the ensuing fight." She nodded to the city. "Coyote, is there a way up to the top?"

 _Awoooooo!_

Maria and the other stiffened as a large cloud of the sand-spirit coyotes suddenly materialized around them.

"And here I was hoping that we could get some stairs or something," Vinnie muttered as the coyotes started to circle.

 **Yobmok, seriously? *sighs* That Mother Crystal...**

 **Well, looks like we're going to end up getting a final battle here soon. That certainly should...make things interesting.**

 **I'll see you guys on Wednesday!**


	30. Atlantis Revisit part 8

**Back again with the next chapter!**

 **Shadescribe - They definitely don't know that Maria can push herself past 100% when it comes to White Flare, and they certainly don't know how powerful her allies are...or how powerful she will become. Heh heh. Future stories are gonna be fun, that's for sure.**

 **Here comes the showdown!**

 **Chapter 30 - Rourxke**

 **Maria's POV**

Coyote dropped us off at the top of the mesa just as the sun disappeared beyond the horizon. He disappeared moments later, scattering in a cloud of sand that just collapsed on the top of the mesa, only to be blown away by a gentle gust of wind and disappear into the desert.

"I wonder how he got to be like that," I commented aloud after dusting the sand off my armor and making sure none of it had slipped into my inner workings.

"Like what?" Audrey asked.

"Like a…a desert spirit, I guess. He's always talking about protecting this place for the sake of his people, and he mentioned that he was charged with watching the guardian's resting place." I paused. "I was wondering if he was human before and just…changed, somehow." I looked over at Kida and Milo. "Do you think that a Guardian would have had the ability to do something like that? Change someone into something else?"

Milo and Kida looked at each other at the question, then back at me and shrugged.

"We don't have an answer for everything yet," Milo said. "There's still a lot of culture and history that have been lost. And it's taking me a long time to decipher the king's writings. There could still be something in them, but I haven't found anything that talks about the Guardians and their abilities in complete detail yet."

"Huh." I frowned. "Meaning that you don't know what exactly it is that this weapon might be able to do, either." I rubbed at my chest absently, feeling the connection back to Yobmok still. It was weaker than it had been before I'd blacked out down in the cave for no particular reason; I was a little concerned as to why, but most of my worry was on the fact that we were going to be facing Rourke's Nobody soon.

And the fact that Coyote had said that Rourke was stronger _at night,_ which it now pretty much happened to _be._ I was understandably concerned.

"Will o' Wisp," I muttered, summoning the little spurts of flame in my hands and scattering around the top of the mesa. They looked like little fireflies, sputtering and creating little glowing circles of warm orange light.

They remained steady, however, and while it did drain from me a little, it didn't affect me all that much.

"You've gotten better," Lea noted, looking around at my handiwork.

"Thanks," I replied. "I've had a lot of chances for practice. Will o' Wisp is pretty helpful in dark places, too."

"Considering we have a full moon and a clear sky, I don't think that we're going to need them," Sweet commented.

Mole sniffed the air, then stiffened and frowned before putting his ear to the ground. "Something is coming!"

The rest of us stiffened instantly at that. Lea and Riku's right hands twitched, as though they were ready to grab something out of thin air at any moment. My right fist clenched, ready to disappear and be replaced by my Buster if the situation happened to call for it.

I heard the crackle of electricity in the distance, and I turned my head sharply in order to see what exactly was coming.

A caught sight of something bright blue approaching from the east, illuminating a mass of darkness that definitely looked sinister. I could barely make out the figure who was holding onto the bight blue object, but the one thing that stood out were the eyes.

Bright blue and ice cold.

I gritted my teeth. "There you are." Flames covered my hands, and I motioned upwards. "Fire Shield!"

The two Will o' Wisps at the edge of the mesa facing Rourke suddenly roared to life and shot up just as Rourke swung the spear and brought it down, sending a bolt of bright blue lightning down at the mesa. I grunted as his power connected with mine, gritting my teeth.

"Maria, move!" Lea barked at me as he and Riku summoned their weapons – strange swords with blades that were shaped like keys. "We'll take it from here!"

I grunted again, then dropped the Fire Shield and jumped back as Lea and Riku lunged forward, throwing up shield spells with their Keyblades to catch the lightning as it came blasting across the mesa towards us. The lightning bounced off the shields with a low _boom_ and shot off into the sky, dissolving into smaller sparks before disappearing from sight completely.

The shadow dissolved and shifted as Rourke landed on the edge of the mesa and walked past my sparking Will o' Wisps, which died pretty quickly as Rourke's body fully materialized into his familiar shape in a black cloak that almost looked like a void.

"Well, well, well, look who finally decided to show their faces," Rourke said, eyeing us with those cold blue eyes that I never remembered him having. "And Milo! Don't have your nose in a book this time? Well well."

Milo's eyes narrowed. "What are you planning, Rourke?"

"Rourxke," the man corrected. "The one you knew as Rourke is long dead; I am simply is lasting will to get back what belongs to him."

Lea moved a step forward, pointing his Keyblade at Rourke. "Oh, yeah? And what's that?"

"Money." Rourxke grinned widely. "Atlantis would have given me a fortune! That crystal – that so-called 'Heart of Atlantis' – would have allowed me to live comfortably for the rest of my days! But you had to take that away from me. And now you are going to pay dearly for that decision!" His grin dropped from his face, and he swung his weapon around – a large, stone shaft with a large spearhead that looked like it was made from a shard of Yobmok. Electricity shot down its length, then shot off the spearhead towards the rest of us.

"Fire Shield!" I yelled again, moving the Will o' Wisps around on the mesa in order to bring up another barrier.

 _Brrrrzzzt!_

I winced at the abrupt energy drain as the electricity danced across my defense; Lea and Riku threw up barriers of their own as well, weakening the drain on me and bolstering the wall between us and Rourxke.

The Nobody hissed. "Either hand over the girl or _die!"_

"Oi!" I barked, scowling. "I am not going to be handed over!"

"Then this place will be your _grave!"_

Riku raised his Keyblade; electricity sparked off the blade and lashed out at Rourxke. It hit his weapon and went down the shaft to the Nobody's hands; instantly, the electricity was sparking across Rourxke's body and caused him to let out an inhuman shriek of pain.

Most of the others flinched back at the noise; Milo, Kida, Lea, Riku, and I didn't.

"We're going in!" Lea lunged forward. "Stay close to the others, and whatever you do, don't let your defense drop!"

"Right!" I called back, moving closer to Milo, Kida, and the rest of the group. I pulled the Fire Shield in from a long wall to a more circular tower that rose high above our heads, just in case Rourxke tried to send an attack at us while he was being kept busy by the two Keyblade wielders.

"I will not be denied my revenge!" Rourxke roared.

"You said it yourself, you're a shade of who Rourke was!" Riku called back. "A shadow, and nothing more! What use would you have of taking revenge when you will be unable to continue on afterwards?!"

"You're being eaten from the inside out, old man!" Lea added. "Look at you – you're already falling apart!" He motioned wildly with his Keyblade, sending out a wave of fire that illuminated the shadows that were gathering at Rourxke's feet.

"I refuse to leave this world until I have the one thing that I was denied!" Rourxke howled.

"This isn't right," Audrey muttered.

I looked at her in confusion. "What do you mean?"

"Rourke wasn't _this_ obsessed with our marks when he worked with us. This thing…it isn't him. It's something else."

"It's got his face and his attitude, though, you can't deny that," Vinnie pointed out. He poked at the Fire Shield I'd set up around us. "How well would this make something go boom?"

"It'd make whatever could go boom go boom on the outside," I replied, looking at Vinnie for a moment before returning my gaze to Rourxke, Lea, and Riku. They were seemingly dancing around each other, Lea and Riku trying to go in for a slice at Rourxke while the Nobody danced back. "Nobodies act differently than who they used to be. It's because they aren't whole. I guess Rourke's anger at us manifested as revenge when Rourxke formed."

It felt weird saying the Nobody's name. It was like there was an extra "c" in his name or something.

"Still, this doesn't feel right," Audrey insisted.

"Nothing with Rourke was ever quite right," Sweet pointed out. "Shoot, I don't think anything with _us_ was really all that right in the beginning of all this."

"Considering that you were in it for the money rather than the discovery?" Milo asked dryly. "Yeah. I think I can tell."

 _Bzzzzzrrrrp!_

I winced as electricity danced across the Fire Shield suddenly, forcing me to pour more energy into the defensive barrier in order to keep it from breaking apart and getting us electrocuted in the process. "Guys! Be a bit more careful!"

"Sorry!" Lea called back. It's kinda hard to keep him off our backs when he's practically one with the shadows!"

Riku caught the Atlantean spear on his Keyblade. "Keep up the defense for now! Lea, help me get him separated from his weapon!"

"Right!"

"This is mine to use! You will not take it away from me!" Rourxke roared back. He pushed against Riku, then forced the silver-haired Keyblade user to stumble back with a sudden blast of blue electricity.

"We need to fight fire with fire," I muttered, frowning. "I bet I know a few friends who would be able to take those attacks and throw them back at him." I reached behind me, ready to summon my PokeDex, but Kida grabbed my arm and stopped me.

"If Rourxke is to learn that you have access to more than what he knows you have, you may put your allies in danger as well," she warned. "I would advise against calling the dragon here."

I paused for a moment, then relaxed my arm. "I was going to call a different friend, but I see your point."

Kida nodded in response, then let go of my arm and looked back at what was going on out on the other side of my Fire Shield. "However, you are correct in being concerned for them. Rourxke is not the man he seems to have been."

Mole made a noise of confirmation.

Lea threw another wave of fire at Rourxke, illuminating the Nobody's face and making his eyes and face glow an almost unearthly color. The Nobody flinched back with an inhuman shriek, throwing an arc of lightning at Lea; the attack barely missed.

"It looks like he doesn't like fire very much!" Lea called.

"Of course not," Riku scoffed in reply. "Do you remember what happened the last time that he and Maria were in the same place?"

My mind flashed back to the first time that I'd traveled off-world, to _this_ world, and the battle that had happened in the then-dormant volcano.

Which I had woken up by using White Flare on Rourke's crystal monster form.

"Oh yeah…." Lea glanced back at me for a moment, then grinned and looked back at Rourxke, who had pulled back to the edge of the mesa and was gripping his side, a defensive expression on his face. "This is gonna be fun! Riku, back me up!"

Riku looked at him sharply. "What are you—"

"Wa-hoo!" Lea dashed forward, his Keyblade becoming covered over in flames as he made an upward swipe at Rourxke's crouched form, getting an inhuman snarl from the Nobody as he dashed to the side in order to avoid the flames.

"Take that! We've found your weakness, you shadowy blob! Time to tear you apart and send you back to where you belong!"

"Back, back from whence you came," I muttered under my breath, grinning a little. The Fire Shield pulsed with more power in response to my excitement at Lea's reaction to the discovery. "Revenge is a dish best served cold and will leave you hollow, Rourxke! And you already are! Do you really think that trying to get back at us for what happened will grant you any true peace?"

Rourxke snarled in response. "Do you really think that I am here for revenge on just you? When I am done with you, I shall destroy this world and everything in it!"

I stiffened at that, eyes widening.

"I thought you said you wanted money!" Milo yelled.

I shifted from foot to foot, watching Rourxke as he continued to move and dodge away from Lea's fiery slashes. The Nobody's bright, unnaturally blue eyes seemed to flash an off-color for a moment.

My breath caught. "Be careful! There's something else up with him!"

"Something else?" Riku looked over at me, then back at Rourxke as Lea continued to chase him around the mesa.

"Lea! Pull back!"

"Huh?" Lea paused, then looked at Riku with a frown from across the mesa. "Now why would I—"

 _THWACK!_

"Lea!" I yelled in alarm as Rourxke suddenly smacked Lea away from him with the Atlantean spear, sending him right into the Fire Shield, which stood a bit too well. Lea smacked into it with his back and slid down to the ground, dazed.

"Lea!" Riku yelled. He turned sharply and glared at Rourxke, who stood up calmly and twirled the Atlantean staff with one hand.

"Did you really think that a little fire was going to stop me?" Rourxke asked with a sly grin.

I frowned. "Maybe not a little. But maybe a lot."

"Maria—" Milo started.

"I can do this. I've taken on big monsters before, this won't be a problem for me." I looked at Milo with a determined expression. "I _can_ do this."

Milo blinked for a moment, looking concerned, then nodded. "Be careful."

"I will." I nodded, then stepped through the Fire Shield seconds before it dropped. "Hey, Rourxke!"

Rourxke turned to look over at me as I raised my hands to be at my shoulder's height. Fire gathered on my palms as they faced upward, glowing red-orange before turning white.

The flames quickly spread up my arms and over my upper body as I poured more energy into the flames. "Whtie Flare: 125 Percent! _Overheat!"_

The shockwave of white flames and heat that actually _rivaled_ the desert's warmth during the day slammed across the mesa towards Rourxke; I barely caught sight of his blue eyes widening in horror, turning bright orange with blue-white pinpricks just before the fire slammed into him and wrapped around him, burning at the black robe he was wearing and illuminating the shadows that crawled along the ground underneath him, making it appear as though there was an opening into some never-ending void under his feet.

"Whoa!" Milo yelped behind me.

I didn't let up, keeping the flames going for a moment longer before cutting it off when I felt the drain on my energy. Rourxke was still writhing around on the ground, the shadowy void under him writhing with him, as though it was a part of him.

"His eyes…." Audrey said worriedly.

"He's something other than a Nobody."

I looked over at Lea as he rose to his feet, gripping his Keyblade.

"He's just one emotion, one feeling, not a bunch of memories barely being held together by the most stubborn bit of willpower," Lea continued. He looked over at me. "It's just some vengeful spirit. Rourke's long gone."

"So we need to finish this guy off," I said.

"We will," Lea replied. " _You_ will stay back here and make sure that Rourxke doesn't try to come after the rest of us. You look like you're about to collapse."

I frowned. "I don't _feel_ like it."

"Yeah, well, that's…whatever your equivalent of adrenaline is." Lea shook his head. "We'll take it from here." He ran towards where Rourxke was lying on the top of the mesa, Riku moving at the exact same time. Their Keyblades started glowing brightly, lighting up the top of the mesa like they were small stars themselves.

What happened next…well, I'm not sure _how_ to describe it.

Rourxke reared up as Lea and Riku ran at him, somehow appearing to be taller than he had been a moment ago, eyes glowing orange like dying coals. His skin was patchy, now, almost like it was covered in a void-like soot. He was looking less and less human by the minute and more and more like some kind of Heartless-monster.

Except that Heartless eyes were normally _yellow,_ not orange.

"Take this!" Lea and Riku roared at once, swinging their Keyblades around and into Rourxke's sides.

The inhuman shriek that followed grated against my ears, causing me to flinch back at the noise. However, I didn't take my eyes off Rourxke's form as bright, white light flashed up his sides in lightning-like cracks. Any skin that was left visible disappeared then, and I caught sight of an inhuman, shifting form that didn't quite look like it could have been anything.

Then the light overtook Rourxke, and with an even louder, _higher_ shriek, his entire form exploded in a shockwave of light.

The Atlantean spear clattered to the ground as the light faded from sight, leaving us in the dark for a moment before our eyes adjusted to the starlight that was above our heads.

Not to mention the glowing spearhead that was still attached to the Atlantean weapon.

Kida dashed across the mesa and grabbed the spear without a second thought. She looked around, as though expecting Rourke to come up out of nowhere and try to take the spear from her, but nothing happened. No one came.

Kida relaxed with a sigh of relief as Milo made his way over to her. "He is gone. I am sure of it."

"Yeah, that light show definitely didn't look like anything anyone could come back from," Milo agreed. He frowned, then looked over at Lea and Riku. "Still…what _was_ that?"

I took a few steps forward, stumbling a little as I went. "Whoa. Okay, maybe I did use up more energy than I thought. At least I didn't collapse like the last few times."

Lea sent me an odd look at that.

"I'm not sure what that was," Riku admitted. "However, I have heard that there were creatures made of negative emotions who attacked multiple worlds before the Heartless came in large numbers. I think they were called Unversed." He looked at the place where Rourke had been a moment ago. "That remnant of Rourke might have been an Unversed that rose up from his soul, took his name and face, and decided to enact those final wishes while also pulling on darker instincts."

"Like wanting to end the world," Audrey noted as she and the others moved after me to join Milo and Kida. "So, what now? He's gone, right?"

"I should think so," I muttered.

"Now, I return this to Atlantis," Kida said seriously, gripping the weapon in her hands even more tightly. "It needs to return there."

"I agree."

We turned at the familiar voice, and caught sight of Coyote standing a short distance away, seeming to glow with a strange light of his own.

"If it were to remain here, it could cause much more trouble than it already has," Coyote said grimly. "The man known as Carnaby has been considering finding this place for some time. I intend to keep him from doing so. However, if he persists…."

 _Awooooo!_

I swallowed, remembering what had happened to the fat man in the movie that I'd seen.

"So, do you think you could take us to the nearest town so that we can get some proper sleep?" Milo asked with a shaky smile.

"And something to eat," Audrey added quickly. "We've been on our feet all day, you know!"

"Of course," Coyote replied. "There is a small settlement not far from here. They will give you shelter for the night and see you off on your return journey in the morning."

This time, when the sand coyotes came, I wasn't as startled or unhappy about the fact that they whisked us off. I was…a lot more calm about it, actually.

Maybe it had to do with the fact that we weren't racing against time to defeat the vengeful spirit of a man we knew was already dead.

 **Well, that settled things. I've got one more chapter in this arc before we move onto the next one, which is certainly going to be...interesting. Heh.**

 **I'll probably post that chapter on New Year's Eve, so I'll see you then!**


	31. Atlantis Revisit part 9

**It'll be 2017 for me in a little over three hours, so here's the next chapter in this story - and the last one from this arc! :)**

 **Shadescribe - Heh, yeah, they've really been run into the ground as a result of just running around. Whelp, they're getting a chance to rest now, that's for sure. XD**

 **Here we go! Last chapter of the Atlantis Arc!**

 **Chapter 31 – Reuniting with the World Above**

 **Maria's POV**

We ended up getting back to Atlantis about a week later, which meant taking the sub again out to the volcano shortcut near Africa. It was…interesting, being confined to that small space again, but thankfully we were traveling at high speed across the surface, so we had the occasional chance to stick our heads out and get some fresh air.

During the times that we didn't, though, Audrey once again followed me around and demanded that I tell her about how it was that I was able to handle using 125 percent of my power when 100 percent should have been my limit.

I didn't bother telling her that I didn't really have a _clue_ as to how it was that I was able to surpass my limit like that. I just chalked it up to being a World Jumper and how humans are always talking bout giving 110 percent and just left it at that for myself.

Although, I still had _one_ trick up my sleeves that I knew about that she didn't yet.

Lea gave me an odd look as we went down to the hanger bay after docking over the volcano. "Why do you look so smug?"

"I'm about to do something that'll make Audrey jealous. Again." I paused, then added, "You're not going to need to worry about me making the plane drop when we head down."

"What do you mean by that?" Lea raised an eyebrow. There was a spark in his eyes that seemed to say he was curious and definitely intrigued by what I was saying.

"Let's just say that I know how to fly on my own." I tapped the square device on my back and winked.

Lea blinked a couple times at that, then sighed and shook his head. "Audrey's probably going to try to kill you for this."

"Well, considering that she's tried to take my Buster apart and has failed already, I'm not too worried," I replied. "Besides, she can't take apart what she can't reach. And I'm going to be pretty far out of hers."

"If you say so." Lea shrugged.

As people started to get into their respective flying vehicles over the hole in the bottom of the sub, Audrey looked at me suspiciously when I didn't.

"What are you up to?" Audrey asked, frowning as she looked down at me from her flying contraption.

I simply grinned, then jumped down before any of the planes could take off, causing the others to let out shouts of surprise and concern.

Then my hoverboard detached from my back and I landed on it and circled around the inner wall of the volcano a couple times while the shouts from above turned into exclamations of confusion.

Except for Audrey, that is. She swore loudly in Spanish before yelling at me, "When we get to Atlantis I am taking that thing and I am taking in apart!"

"You'll have to catch me first!" I called back with a grin.

Then I shot down towards the cave that led to Atlantis, Yobmok laughing at the back of my head. The connection was still weak after what had happened back in America, but it hadn't weakened to the point that I wasn't able to hear or feel the Heart of Atlantis in my head. I knew why it was there – Yobmok being apparently worried about me, according to Milo and Kida – but I was only slowly getting used to her presence. It…didn't feel right, her being able to watch what I was doing from inside my own head.

Wildfire had done that more than enough times for me, and I was eighteen. I could take care of myself.

I shot out of the tunnel and out into the open of the city as the others followed behind on the flying machines. I caught sight of Audrey sulking as we landed, and as soon as I hit the ground and the hoverboard folded and went back to its normal position on my back, she looked absolutely murderous.

"I am going to figure out how to make that," Audrey said, giving me a pointed look. "You can count on it."

"I don't doubt it," I replied. "It's probably going to take a long time, though."

Audrey huffed and folded her arms across her chest.

Kida leapt out of the plane she and Milo had shared on the way down, one hand holding onto the Atlantean spear. She had gotten back into her royal clothes as soon as today had started – Milo had been quick to follow suit, and he was a little more careful about climbing out of the plane.

Kida strode past us and started for the center of the town plaza as the Atlanteans who were already there started to gather together, looking at us and their queen with curious, awed expressions.

"I have been to the world on the surface!" Kida called. "And I have seen their progress and its people! There is still much more that I wish to learn from them, just as they have much to learn from us. There are remnants of our own people among them!" She held up the spear. "I return with a weapon from our past, when we too were a part of the world on the surface. There are many more ancient artifacts and weapons which have been left behind on the surface, and I do not intend to let them fall into the wrong hands. The world above also has many machines – machines which were made to help, without draining the energy of our Heart." Kida motioned to the bright blue ball of energy high above our heads. "I say that it is time that we joined with the surface again, and see what we can offer to the world above, and what they can offer to us in return."

With that statement, Kida slammed the butt of the staff into the stone in the center of the plaza.

The spear _lit up_ suddenly, glowing brightly down its length as electricity shot off the spearhead. We moved back in order to avoid the sparks that flew off in all directions. Yobmok responded instantly, blue lights shooting down at Kida and catching her in a spotlight. The spearhead and Kida's crystal shard lit up as well, causing a momentary shockwave as Kida's hair was lifted up as a result of the strange power that Yobmok had.

I felt the connection at the back of my head flare up, and I winced as my vision started turning blue, like it had back in the American Southwest.

 ** _-I am in agreement with Kida. We have been in hiding for long enough. Lend me your strength, for what Kida has and the weapon has will not be enough-_**

I winced, shaking my head before taking in a breath and nodding slightly. _I have burned myself out before. I can handle this._

 ** _-I know-_**

I felt the sudden drain almost instantly, and dropped to my knees with a gasp of surprise as a spotlight focus on me and pulled out the energy equivalent of a 125 percent for the second time in less than a month. At the same time, Kida let go of the spear, arms out at her sides as the weapon shot up into the crystal above out heads as the carvings of the dead rulers started spinning faster and faster.

"Maria!" Lea moved in front of me, looking at me with a concerned expression as a bright blue shield started to drop. "Are you—"

"I-I'm fine," I managed in reply. "Yobmok just needed a little extra energy." I sat back, taking my weight off my legs and moving it to my rump. "Woof. I might have to take a nap before I head back home."

The ground shook underneath us; the Atlanteans moved closer to each other, holding each other close and looking concerned at what was happening.

Audrey whipped out what looked like a walkee-talkee. "Take the sub up to the surface! We'll meet you there!"

Then we started moving up. I heard a loud sucking noise from below us; the lava was pulling at the island. There was a loud _pop!_ a moment later, and the entire island jumped up much more quickly for a moment before colliding with the "sky" – the roof of the cave that was high above us.

"What was—"

"Ze lava let us go," Mole noted in surprise, interrupting Sweet. "I did not think it could act like water!"

"Well, it's a liquid, isn't it?" I replied, looking at the Frenchman with a raised eyebrow.

Mole spluttered as the shield above our heads ground against the cave ceiling, pushing slowly past it. "It is not _just_ a _liquid,_ it is liquid _rock!_ Rock does not let go so easily!"

"Well, apparently, it just did," I replied flatly.

Sweet looked amused for a moment, but then the entire city shook as it was pushed even harder against the cave ceiling and suddenly broke through.

 _WSSSSSSHHHHH!_

I jolted as tons of water suddenly collapsed _into_ the cave, splashing over the shield as it started moving upwards at a quicker pace. All I saw was black waters, darker than dark, out beyond the shield as we pushed up into the bottom of the ocean. The only light came from Yobmok, still spinning above our heads at a speed that I wasn't ever planning on trying to mimic.

Milo looked at Kida with concern, as she had yet to move from where she was standing below Yobmok. I remembered the last time that she had been – when Rourke had still been around, when the crystal was willing to go with him for the sake of protecting the city – and what exactly the old king had said before he passed, about how Kida could be lost if Yobmok held onto her for too long.

Then I felt another pull at my energy, wincing and collapsing to the side – Lea barely caught me in time. "Primus, she's taking a lot," I murmured.

"Why is she taking from you?" Lea demanded. "You're not even royal blood!"

"But my core is bigger than a normal crystal shard _and_ it does look like a miniature version of her." I nodded up, not looking directly at Yobmok as she shined even more brightly before starting to moving up at a slightly quicker pace. "I've got more energy than Kida. She's using me as reserves so that she doesn't take Kida."

"Doesn't take – oh." Lea's eyes widened as understanding crossed his face. "Gotcha."

The water around us was starting to look brighter now – we were getting closer to the surface. I caught sight of something metallic rising somewhere nearby, but we passed by it.

"There goes the sub," Audrey commented. "I wonder how we're gonna be able to explain away this one – we _said_ that Atlantis didn't exist, but now suddenly it does." She looked at Mr. Whitmore with a pointed look before turning her attention to Milo. "Not to mention _someone's_ come back from the dead."

Milo didn't take his eyes off Kida, even as a large group of fish suddenly scattered around Atlantis as it continued to move up. "I'm sure Mr. Whitmore will think of something."

"Here we go," Sweet said, looking up.

"Someone's gonna die," Packard commented suddenly.

I followed their gazes and blinked in surprise when I saw that there was a boat almost directly above us. It somehow managed to drift away from the top of the shield right before it broke through the water and pulled us up into the open sky.

I heard the waves crashing against Atlantis, the sudden disruption of an island appearing seemingly out of the middle of nowhere causing some disruption to the currents as the shield slowly dissipated.

 ** _-You have much strength, and will gain more in the future-_** Yobmok's voice echoed in the back of my mind. **_–You have matured much, as well. Beware, for something dark threatens worlds. You are wrapped up in it in certain ways. Beware the dark monsters of the darkest corners, for they intend to make the world of light their own-_**

As Yobmok left my mind abruptly, I blinked in confusion. What did _that_ mean? Did it have something to do with the unease I'd felt at the beginning of summer?

A moment later, I realized that Yobmok had _really_ left my mind – the connection that had been there a little while ago had gone dead.

The blue spotlight that had been over Kida disappeared, and she started to fall back. Milo lunged forward and caught her before she could hit the ground. His concerned expression morphed into relief a moment later when Kida looked at him with an expression of relief.

The Atlanteans started moving towards us, looking around at where we had ended up with expressions of confusion, surprise, and awe.

A little girl stepped forward, looking between us and the sky above our heads with an expression of confusion and awe. When she reached us, she pointed up at a familiar yellow ball in the sky. "Is that another crystal?"

"No," Milo replied, shaking his head and smiling. "That's the sun. It's like a crystal, but it's not."

"How can it be like one and not at the same time?" the child asked.

I closed my eyes and breathed in, feeling the sunlight already starting to cause my energy to trickle back up again. "It's high in the sky – so high that you couldn't touch it even if you climbed up that tallest building. It's also extremely hot, and it moves in the sky, disappearing at the end of the day and appearing again at the beginning. Even if you can't see it, it's always somewhere."

"Like how you're always traveling," Milo said, nodding to me.

I gave a slight smile at that and would have responded were it not for the fact that a yawn decided to interrupt me.

"Go and rest," Kida said. "And when you are well rested, I assume that you will be returning to your home?"

"That's sort of the idea," I admitted, smiling a little.

"You should return, then. We shouldn't keep you any longer than we were required to." Kida moved over to where I was sitting next to Lea, Milo following after her in case she fell over. "Thank you for assisting us in returning what belonged here and ending a threat to not only Atlantis, but this world above as well. I wish you all the best luck in what you will do in the future."

My smile broadened slightly. "Thanks."

 **Time Break**

After my nap – and a long time saying good-byes to everyone and avoiding Audrey's insistence that I give her blueprints for at least my hoverboard – I returned back to my home dimension.

As soon as I stepped out onto the street in front of the house, I was _bombarded_ by a loud, insistent beeping in my head that definitely sounded like a call that was trying to come in.

And it was coming from Wildfire.

"What?" I demanded, putting my left hand to my ear. "I just got back! What's going on?"

 _::Wherever you were must've had bad reception, because I've been trying to find you for the last hour!::_ Wildfire snapped in reply. _::We've got a visitor from another dimension::_

I froze, my eyes widening. "What?"

 _::You heard me – some moron decided to jump in on Cybertron and nearly died of asphyxiation; Joshua took him down to Earth an hour ago and I've been trying to find you since. Figured you might know something about the guy::_

"Guy? Who is he?" I started heading towards Joshua's house; if he had a guest, they were probably over there.

 _::I didn't get a good look. All I saw was a black cloak and a huge weapon::_

"…that doesn't give me much to go on." I bit my lower lip; if this guy had a weapon, he was probably pretty dangerous.

 _::Joshua did. He said you'd know him. Said something about a dimensional wanderer that you'd seen on TV or something::_

"The only dimensional wanderer I know about is…." I trailed off as I thought through the cartoons I'd seen recently.

A moment later, it clicked.

I stopped short. "Holy _scrap._ It _can't_ be him."

 _::Go and find out. I'm pretty sure whoever you're thinking of is probably him::_

I nodded dumbly. "M-maybe. Holy _scrap,_ I didn't think that he'd end up here. I-I've gotta go check this out."

 _::Keep me posted. I still want to know why he suddenly appeared in the middle of the Hall of Records without an oxygen tank::_

"Right!"

I tore down the street. If the man was who I was thinking he was, I definitely didn't want to keep Joshua _or_ him waiting.

 **I'll give you six guesses as to who just wandered into Maria's dimension. Hint: it's got something to do with a horror-ish tale that I am also presently writing that I should probably be putting more work into if I want it done. Heh.**

 **I'll see you next week with the start of the next arc!**


	32. Six Fingers

**Happy New Year, Ladies and Gentlemen! Let's get this year started off with the next arc!**

 **Shadescribe - Heh. You saw my PM'd response, of course, and I'm sure the chapter provides more than enough of a hint as to what's coming. ;)**

 **So here we go!**

 **Chapter 32 – Six Fingers**

 **Maria's POV**

I practically slammed open the door to Joshua's lab, eyes wide and panting from having gone at a dead run.

Joshua looked up with a patient expression, raising an eyebrow. "You're back."

I hardly heard him; most of my focus was on the man sitting on the cot that was up against the wall: black trench coat, black turtleneck sweater, the gray hair with the even lighter, horizontal streak.

"…holy scrap." I swallowed, wide-eyed. " _Holy scrap."_

Joshua rolled his eyes. "Yes, how eloquent."

I looked at him sharply. "Well, when you meet someone you count as a hero I'd like to see _you_ manage to keep your ability to speak!"

"How do you know about me?" Joshua's guest raised an eyebrow, looking at me with a surprised expression.

I squeaked and slapped my hands over my mouth. _He sounded exactly like he did in the show oh gosh oh gosh oh gosh._ "U-u-uh, w-well—"

"Perhaps we should get introductions out of the way before she turns into a spluttering mess," Joshua said dryly. "Dr. Stanford Pines, this is Maria Carlsdale, my neighbor and fellow Reploid, who apparently has lost her voice as a result of meeting one of the people she speaks so highly of."

Joshua's comment finally managed to snap me back into focus. "Look, I was _not_ expecting him to show up in our dimension, that's all. I mean, we have _metal aliens_ practically in our backyard; I did _not_ think it was going to get any crazier than that!"

Stanford Pines, dimensionally displaced traveler, looked startled.

I looked over at him and rubbed the back of my head, a shaky smile appearing on my face. "S-so, yeah. I'm Maria. Hi. I-I'm guessing you've got questions?"

"Well, yes," Stanford Pines rose from the cot, turning to face me with a serious frown. "Your friend Joshua provided some answers – mostly assurances that I was not a wanted criminal yet in this dimension and that it is a relatively quiet place despite the planet that I found myself on upon arrival. Despite that, he did not inform me as to how he knew who I was, nor has he informed me of everything that is happening in this dimension."

I took in a deep breath, trying to fight back the heart-racing sensations of _oh scrap Stanford Pines is real and he's here in my dimension and he's talking to me._ "W-well, Cybertron's rebuilding, for one. Their war finished last summer – that was a year ago almost exactly. The, um…the Autobots one."

Stanford _stiffened._ "They _what?!_ But the Autobots are a corrupted group that will stop at nothing to—"

"Not in this universe," Joshua interrupted, causing me to blink in surprise. "The Decepticons were the ones who were morally corrupt as a result of contact with Dark Energon. Megatron, their leader, did see the error of his ways and is now helping the Autobots rebuild, agreeing with and making sure that they remember what it is that they stood for."

Stanford paused at that.

"I can vouch for them," I offered. "Optimus Prime might not be around anymore, but others who were part of his inner circle were." I paused, blinking. "W-wait. If you know the universe where the Autobots and Decepticons are morally flip-flopped…." I tapped my chin. "We went to a universe like that last summer. Apparently, there was a human who was running around on the Cybertron there who managed to shrink a Titan. We never saw the guy."

Joshua blinked a couple times. "Yes, I remember that. It was rather odd, seeing what was supposed to be so huge suddenly shrunk down and trapped in a jar." He raised an eyebrow at me before looking over at Stanford curiously. I looked over at the man and blinked in surprise when I saw the wide-eyed look the man had on his face.

"…how were you able to travel to that dimension?" Stanford asked cautiously.

"Well, it took quite a bit of energy, but—" I cut myself off and did a double-take. "W-wait. Are you saying you were _there?"_

"Answer the question," Stanford replied, his eyes narrowing. "How did you travel to that dimension? How could _you_ have? You're just a teenager!"

"Hey, I turned eighteen in May!" I replied shortly, standing a little straighter. "And I happen to be a _walking portal,_ thank you very much!"

It occurred to me a second later that I probably shouldn't have mentioned that to a man who was either looking for a way home or a way to get to the next dimension over.

Stanford shifted back a little. He blinked a couple times, a blank expression on his face. "A…walking portal?" He frowned. "That's impossible."

I put my hands on my hips. "I'm a World Jumper, I _make_ the impossible possible."

Stanford stared at me with a disbelieving expression. "A World Jumper? You? Impossible – there's no way that someone so young could have—"

"This is the Multiverse we're talking about," Joshua commented. "Anything that's impossible in one place is possible in another."

"Like the fact that you're a cartoon character in this dimension," I added quickly, grinning.

Stanford looked at me sharply. "A _cartoon_ character? Now that is the most ridiculous thing that I've ever heard. You must have me mistaken for someone else." He shook his head. "Perhaps a counterpart of myself or—"

"I know about Gravity Falls."

Stanford stopped short. His eyes narrowed.

"I know about your journals, I know about your family, and I know the reason why you're here, not there," I continued, starting to speak more quickly. I did _not_ want to set Stanford off even more than I already had, but I could tell that I was failing miserably. "But I _don't_ work for the monster you're trying to kill – he doesn't exist in this dimension and hasn't been able to get in as far as I know."

"As far as you know?" Stanford repeated, a suspicious tone in his voice.

"I haven't seen him in my dreams. Considering that I'm a World Jumper and I'm kinda meant to keep balance on different worlds, either he'd want to corrupt me or find a way to stop me. And I haven't seen either." I held my hands out at my sides. "Please, believe me, I would rather have my sister spear her sword through my core than turn you in."

Joshua's eyes widened abruptly at my declaration.

Stanford didn't look convinced. "I've heard many people say that, only to attempt to turn me in. Men, women, children. If you don't give me reason to trust you in the next five minutes, I will tear this place apart with my bare hands to find what I need before moving on. And that includes gutting you two."

I bit my lower lip at that and swallowed.

"There may be a way." Joshua pulled a piece of paper out of thin air, then paused. "Maria. Would you be willing to let him do this? I know that you're uncomfortable with me going it."

I blinked a couple times, then realized what it was that Joshua was referring to. I looked at Stanford nervously and swallowed. "Well, he's going to have to trust us somehow…."

"What are you talking about?" Stanford asked shortly.

"I didn't mention our origins when I mentioned that we were sentient machines," Joshua said. "Maria was kidnapped by someone early last year who attempted to make her submit to his orders. The results hare here." He handed over the paper that was in his hand, which Stanford took in his larger, six-fingered hand.

"…." Stanford frowned. "Protocol: Alpha-Beta: Activate? What does this—"

I gasped as the Protocol rushed up and gripped my mind in a vice. At the same time, my armor changed from, red, orange, and gray, to maroon, gold, and gray, with a golden, six-fingered hand appearing on my now maroon chest as I stiffened into a position of attention.

Stanford stiffened as he looked at me in surprise. "What is this?"

"The Protocol is the remains of the program that was used on me," I replied. "I keep the codes for it close to my chest for a reason; it places me under the control of whomever activates it. So far, it's been people I know I can trust who have used it."

Stanford inclined his head slightly. "This means you will follow my orders."

"To a point. I can't open portals to other dimensions when the Protocol is active, only windows. Also, my morals can't be broken." I paused. "I haven't had the second happen yet when under the Protocol or in any other situation, but I'm certain that if someone ordered me to, say, kill someone, would end up receiving retaliation for that."

Stanford raised an eyebrow at that. "Hm. You aren't lying, are you?"

"The Protocol makes me incapable of lying, Dr. Pines," I replied with a straight face. "Especially to the person who activated it."

"I see." He fixed me with a determined expression. "Where have you seen Bill Cipher?"

"In the cartoon _Gravity Falls,_ facing off against Dipper and Mabel Pines within the mind of Stanley Pines in the episode 'Dreamscapers'. That's where I first saw him. He made other appearances in the episodes "Sock Opera" and the final three episodes, referred to collectively as "Weirdmageddon"."

Joshua had a grim look on his face.

"Weirdma –" Stanford cut himself off. "You mean he gets into my dimension?!"

"A dimension. I don't necessarily know if it'll be yours or not."

"How?" Stanford's voice came out in a low growl.

"Your brother Stanley is presently working on repairing the portal in your lab. He doesn't know you wrote warnings to him in invisible ink, so he doesn't know about how unstable the portal actually is."

Stanford shut his mouth, looking a little startled at that.

"He is also working from only one journal for thirty years," I added. "The one you told him to hide. He is that desperate to get you back."

Stanford's eyebrows wavered for a moment; he appeared conflicted, half horrified and half hopeful. Then he shook his head and gained a dark frown again. "Who are Dipper and Mabel Pines? What were they doing in Stanley's mind?"

I promptly launched into a basic summary of the first season of the show, covering Dipper's discovery of Ford's third journal by accident, as well as the fact that a ten-year-old boy with a lust for power named Gideon had managed to get his hands on the second, found out about the portal and thought it was a weapon that would give him unlimited power, and then summoned Bill in order to get control of the land the house stood on, only to be defeated and Stanley to take the second journal when no one else realized it had even existed. I left out some things, like the fact that Stanley had turned the house into a tourist trap and taken Stanford's name in the last three decades.

"And when do I play into this?" Stanford pressed.

"Stanley activates the portal," I replied, "at the beginning of the second season. You arrive when it is more than halfway over, and safeguard the rift that results as best you can. However, circumstances lead it to falling into Bill's grasp, starting Weirdmageddon. Bill is beaten in the end, but it takes a large sacrifice on the part of yourself and your family in order for it to happen."

"I wouldn't ask her to get more specific than that," Joshua spoke up suddenly. "You asking her about this show may be helpful, but it could also change your timeline in ways that you won't be expecting."

Stanford frowned at that. "What makes you say that?"

"The Butterfly Effect," Joshua replied dryly. "Just the fact that you've come here means that there's a chance that your whole story could be exposed to you, but no matter how much you prepare, events are still going to take place – perhaps in different ways, but they are still going to take place nonetheless."

"Bill is not going to get into my dimension," Stanford insisted. "I intend to make sure of it."

Joshua shrugged. "Then if that's the case, what use do you have of what-ifs that this cartoon has? It may not even be your dimension that we saw. The Multiverse is vast, after all."

Stanford seemed to consider that for a moment, but then he reluctantly nodded. "Yes, I suppose that is true." He looked over at me. "Have there been any recordings of naturally-forming rifts between dimensions recently?"

"Not to my knowledge," I replied. "The only ones that I've been aware of are my portals and the few times where our neighbor Khrista has sometimes been pulled to other dimensions with a strong teleport somehow."

"Hm. Which means that you would be my only way out of this dimension, but your powers aren't completely accessible as a result of this Protocol you have." Stanford paused. "Show me Gravity Falls."

The yanking sensation that hit my core as a result of the order caused me to wince as I raised a hand and summoned a portal next to me.

The blue, swirling door between dimensions cleared up a moment later, revealing what looked like a clearing in the middle of the woods. Most of the portal's focus was on a porch of some kind, however.

 _"Jesus! What was—"_

And an old man identical to Ford in a tank top and his boxers, sitting on a weather-worn couch, jumped to his feet in surprise. He stared at the window in shock.

 _"…Ford?"_

Stanford blinked a couple times, then he looked over at me. "He can _see_ us?"

"My windows work as two-way ones," I replied. "This thing isn't camouflaged."

 _"Oh God. I hope I'm not seeing things."_ The old man on the other side of the window stepped closer and put his hand up against some invisible barrier. _"…Oh God. Ford, is that really you? What the heck is this? What's going on?"_

The surprise and hope in the other man's – Stanley's – voice was the kind of hope that I could practically grasp in my fingers.

"…Stanley." Stanford sounded like he was feeling _something,_ but I wasn't entirely sure what. He was doing a good job of keeping his face mostly guarded. "Yes, it's me."

The hope that was in Stanley's eyes increased as a shaky smile appeared on his face. _"I knew you were still alive."_

Stanford shifted. He seemed a little uncomfortable at his twin's words. "Stanley, I know you're trying to reactivate the portal. You shouldn't do that."

Stanley blinked at that, then frowned. _"What? But if it's a way I can get you back—"_

"It's going to cause a rip in space-time that will bring about the end of our universe. It's too dangerous, and much too risky."

 _"Well then why'd you build the damn thing in the first place?"_ Stanley frowned.

Stanford hesitated at the question.

 _"Look, I'm not gonna stop working on it until you're home, rips in space and time be damned. You look like you're okay wherever you are right now, and that's good. So_ stay there _so I can get this thing working. Hopefully I'll have it done by the end of the summer so you can meet—"_

 _"Grunkle Stan? Who are you talking to?"_

Stanley quickly turned around, blocking the portal as best he could with his body so that the source of the young girl's voice wouldn't get to see my window. _"N-nobody sweetie! Don't you have that playdate with your friends to get to?"_

 _"It's not a playdate, Grunkle Stan. We're planning a sock puppet show, and I need Candy and Grenda's input!"_

My breath caught. Stanford noticed, and he looked over at me with a raised eyebrow but kept his mouth shut.

 _"…what's that blue glow-y thing?"_

Stanley yelped as a little brown-haired girl pushed him to the side and stared with wide eyes at the two of us. _"Whoa. What's this thing?"_

Stanford glanced at me, prompting me to answer.

"It's a window between dimensions," I explained. "Kinda like the mirror that the Beast has in _Beauty and the Beast,_ but you can talk through it, too."

The girl's eyes widened at that. _"Whoa, cool! Does that mean he's another version of you, Grunkle Stan?"_ She looked up at Stanley with a bright grin, only for that to fade when she saw the more somber expression on his face. _"…Grunkle Stan?"_

 _"Pumpkin, there's…there's somethin' I should probably tell ya."_ Stanley rubbed the back of his head. _"That's, uh…that's actually my twin brother. Stanford."_

The girl – Mabel, Stanley's niece – frowned. _"But aren't you Stanford, Grunkle Stan?"_

"You stole my name, Stanley?!" Stanford hissed.

 _"What did ya expect me to do, tell everyone the truth?!"_ Stanley shot back, glaring at Stanford. _"I had to do something in order to keep your house and actually find a way to get you back, so the best thing I could think of at the time was pretending to be you! In case you didn't notice, you had bills to pay and I wasn't about to start paying them in my name just so that I could stick around!"_

Stanford looked at me, and I shrugged a little in response.

"He faked his death to cover his tracks," I said. "As far as your world knows, Stanley Pines no longer exists."

 _"Who are you?"_ Mabel asked, looking at me curiously.

"My name is Maria," I replied. "I, ah, I'm an inter-dimensional traveler, like Dr. Pines. Only, my portals are stable and I don't have as much experience as he does yet."

Mabel frowned. _"That symbol on –"_ Her eyes widened sharply. _"Stay right there! I'm gonna go get Dipper!"_ She promptly scrambled out of sight and ran off into the house, yelling her brother's name.

Stanley sighed. _"Whelp. Looks like I'm going to be telling them earlier than I'd—"_ He paused. _"Wait. Kid, did you just say that you can make stable portals? Like, none of this time-space rift stuff?"_

I nodded a little, feeling Stanford's eyes on me as well.

 _"Since my brother's so finicky about the whole thing, think you can get him over here?"_

"Maybe," I replied. "There's…someone that your brother has been intending to fight and destroy for some time. Me creating a way home for him could rob him of that chance." I looked over at Stanford, who was frowning at my words. "Not to mention, your great-niece and nephew have made contact with that very entity already, and it would be dangerous to let said entity continue to live and possibly cause you problems."

"Maria is right," Stanford said.

 _"Entity?"_ Stanley frowned. _"What kind of monster are we talking about that means my brother can't come home, huh? Tell me who he is – maybe I can find him and punch 'im."_ He slammed a clenched fist into an open palm, a serious frown on his face.

Stanford sighed and rubbed his forehead with a couple fingers. "You can't punch this monster, Stanley, he's a being of pure energy."

 _"Whatever. And how does the kid know that I've got two kids over here when you never met 'em?"_

Before I could respond, I heard the sound of running footsteps, and Mabel reappeared with a brown-haired boy wearing a pine tree baseball cap. His eyes widened as soon as he caught sight of us.

 _"That symbol!"_ Dipper ran up to the window and pointed at the six-fingered hand on my chest. _"Oh my gosh – do you think she knows the author?"_ He pulled a dark red book from his vest, the six-fingered hand and the "3" on it glinting a little.

Stanford's eyes widened sharply as Stanley rubbed the back of his head and cleared his throat.

 _"I dunno about her, but…kids, I gotta tell ya somethin'. That journal that you've been obsessing over? Uh…well, my twin brother's the author."_ Stanley pointed to Stanford.

Dipper looked back and forth between Stanley and Stanford, confused. _"Wh-what?"_

 _"Are you serious, Grunkle Stan?"_ Mabel asked in surprise.

 _"THAT's the Author of the Journal?"_ Dipper's jaw dropped.

"Journal _s,"_ Stanford corrected. "I _did_ write three."

Dipper looked at the cover of his journal as his eyes widened. _"No way…"_ He looked up at Stanford. _"Where are you? How are you making this thing? Is it magic?"_

 _"Are you going to be coming to Gravity Falls soon?"_ Mabel added

 _"Hopefully,"_ Stanley replied for his brother. _"He's, uh…he's kinda stuck in another dimension right now."_ He rubbed the back of his head. _"I've got a plan to get him back, but Ford's not willing to go through with it – says it'll cause the world to end as we know it."_

"It very well might." Joshua stepped forward into view. "I'm Joshua, a resident of this dimension with Maria. Creating a rip in space and time is dangerous business; it should probably be left to the professionals."

 _"Yeah, like some teenager is a professional,"_ Stanley scoffed in reply, nodding to me.

"Maria's been creating her own stable portals and traveling on her own for the last two years, and she is presently 18," Joshua replied without missing a beat. "Technically an adult."

I nodded in response as Dipper and Mabel exchanged looks.

 _"She's still a kid compared to me,"_ Stanley replied pointedly.

"That may be, but she does have experience." Joshua paused. "Here's a proposal: if Maria is unable to create a portal in the next week of our dimension's time to bring your brother back to yours, use the portal machine Dr. Pines made to give her an anchor point. I believe that her abilities may counteract any instabilities that the machine might have and either make the resulting rift in space time smaller or non-existent."

Stanford looked at Joshua sharply.

"What do you think, Maria?" Joshua looked over at me.

I cocked my head to one side as Stanford looked over at me. "Maybe? I haven't tried anything like that before, but I'd be willing to give it a shot if I can't get Ford home on my own. Only way we'd be able to know for sure is if the Protocol was deactivated, though."

 _"The what?"_ Dipper asked in confusion.

"Nothing you need to worry about," Joshua replied. I shot him a thankful look as he continued, "So? Is this a good enough proposal?"

 _"So long as my brother comes home,"_ Stanley replied, a determined tone in his voice.

 _"I have so many questions."_ Dipper's eyes were practically shining. _"How did you get in another dimension? Why'd you come over to Gravity Falls in the first place? What is it that you're doing now?"_ One of his hands mimed clicking a pen over and over, but his thumb only hit thin air.

 _"Have you been to a dimension where pigs are the dominant species?"_ Mabel piped up.

I smiled at Mabel's question as Stanford looked momentarily thrown off by the questions before gaining a more somber expression.

"I'm afraid I haven't been to a dimension where pigs are the dominant species, although I have been to a dimension that was populated by man-gophers," Stanford replied. "As for your other questions…." He sent Stanley a pointed look. "I'll be more than willing to answer them when I return. There are other things which I must take care of before that happens, however."

"If you require any assistance, my lab is open to you," Joshua said, motioning to the room and the equipment it contained. "I saw that one of the devices you were carrying is unfinished; I assume you want to complete it before returning to your dimension?"

"That would be ideal, yes." Stanford nodded.

 _"Hey – how are we gonna know if the portal thing on your end doesn't work?"_ Stanley spoke up.

"It'll open up as a window instead of a proper portal," I replied. "Probably right around this exact area, too."

 _"How long are we going to have to wait in order to find out?"_ Dipper asked, gripping the journal in his hands.

"Hard to say," Joshua said. "Time passes differently between dimensions. We'll have to see what happens."

Dipper, Stan, and Mabel exchanged looks at that.

 _"All right. I'm gonna keep working on the thing and if you don't show your face between now and the end of the week through that thing, I'm gonna open that thing up,"_ Stan said seriously, poking at the barrier. _"I ain't gonna leave you who-knows-where just 'cause you're scared that the world's gonna end or somethin'."_

"Stanley—"

 _"Don't Stanley me! I am going to fix this!"_

Stanford looked startled at that.

 _"Now, kids, don't you have stuff you were gonna do today? Some kinda sock puppet show?"_

Stanford stiffened a little.

 _"Don't you wanna get it done so you can show Ford when he gets back?"_

Mabel's eyes widened. _"Oh my gosh yes! Come on, Dipper, we gotta go talk to Candy and Grenda about the script!"_ She grabbed Dipper's arm and dragged him out of sight, getting a yelp from her brother.

Stanley watched them go with a slight smile before looking back at Stanford, Joshua, and me. _"You take care of what you gotta do and bring him back safe, you hear?"_

I nodded in response.

 _"Good. I've gotta go and…take care of some things."_ Stanley gave Stanford a determined grin. _"See you later, brother."_

With that, he turned and walked back into the house, leaving my window open to an empty porch.

Stanford sighed, his mouth pressing into a straight line. "Close it."

I released my hold on the window, swaying for a moment as the energy drain hit. I shook my head in order to shake off the momentary dizziness.

"How did you end up with this ability?" Stanford asked, looking at me with a grim expression.

"My parents were first generation World Jumpers," I replied. "They were sucked through rifts that formed in television monitors. I was given the ability to create portals as a result of that."

"Parents? Mechanical beings procreate here?"

I shook my head. "I was human before."

Stanford fell silent.

"Maria ran into a fatal accident her third time off-world," Joshua explained. "She was transformed into a Reploid as a result of that. An enemy of the man who rescued her saw her as nothing more than another artificial creation and attempted to reprogram her. The results were apparently disastrous – the program reportedly wiped her of free will, personality, and morals. The program was reversed, but some parts are irremovable. The Protocol is that part."

"Is this the truth?" Stanford looked at me.

I nodded. "It is, Dr. Pines."

Stanford looked between the two of us, his guarded expression shifting over into alarm.

"And you allowed me to do this – _why?_ "

"You needed proof that you could trust us," I replied. "I know you to be trustworthy, Dr. Pines, but you didn't know if we were. I was willing to put my freedom on the line for that."

The honesty in that one sentence alone cause Stanford to flinch.

Joshua handed over another piece of paper. "That's the deactivation code. Yes, I know it's incredibly similar to the activation code, but I wasn't the one who designed the Protocol to act as it does."

Stanford glanced down at the paper, his brow furrowing. "Protocol: Alpha-Beta: Deactivate."

The results were instantaneous: my armor shifted back to normal and I instantly felt like I wasn't being held down.

I let out a gasp and leaned against a nearby table, a hand to my chest. "Moltres' tail feathers, you have a vice grip! Gah!" I shook my head, putting a couple fingers to my temples. "Good gol- _ly."_

"You haven't made that comment about any of the other times," Joshua noted, raising an eyebrow.

"None of the 'other times' were done by people who have learned to be paranoid," I replied, rubbing at my temples. I looked at Stanford quickly. "No offense meant – you've been through a lot of stress and I doubt that you'd ever be able to completely relax in very many situations ever again."

"None taken," Stanford replied.

A low growl suddenly came from somewhere in the room; Stanford gained an odd look on his face.

I blinked at that, then cocked my head to one side as I checked my internal clock. "You know, it is almost dinnertime. I don't think my mom would mind a guest very much."

Stanford looked surprised at that; he shook his head. "I'll be fine, I have—"

"I confiscated your nutrition pills while you were unconscious," Joshua said. "Go and have some of Mrs. Carlsdale's cooking; you won't regret it."

Stanford shot Joshua a look of shock and surprise at my cousin's comment.

 _"Nutrition pills?"_ I repeated in surprise. "Are you serious?"

Stanford said nothing in response and frowned, as though getting ready to settle into a staring contest with Joshua.

"You are in our dimension now," Joshua pointed out. "And you are in a safe place; we've established that. You will be all right without those pills for a day or two."

I snorted. "Yeah, I should think so. My mom knows what she's doing when it comes to feeding us; you'll be fine." I gave what I hoped to be an encouraging smile and motioned for Stanford to follow me out of the lab. "Come on."

"What about—"

"I will not touch your devices while you are gone," Joshua replied evenly. He pointed over to the corner next to the cot Stanford had been sitting on when I arrived. "I will leave them there, exactly as they were when you awoke."

Stanford hesitated at that, then gave a curt nod. "Let's get this over with as quickly as possible, then. Time is of the essence."

I nodded and stepped out of Joshua's lab, Stanford practically on my heels. I resisted frowning at his comment about time, though – we had a week in order to get him back to his dimension without Stanley turning on the portal.

How far _was_ he in making his ultimate weapon to defeat Bill?

 **I hope I did Ford justice. So, surprise! We have a Gravity Falls character wandering around Maria's dimension. Just to let you know, he is not the "canon" Ford Pines, and he is _not_ the Ford Pines of _Soul Bound,_ either. Just so you guys know.**

 **I'll see you guys next chapter with more shenanigans! Expect one more this week, and then I'll go back to posting once a week because I'll be back in school. See you then!**


	33. Dinner Guest

**Hi, guys! I'm back with the last chapter that I'm going to post this week - and this break!**

 **Shadescribe - Yes it is indeed unfortunately necessary. But I think I have good classes next semester, so I'm kinda looking forward to it. And thanks! I'm always worried about getting characters actually in character like they're supposed to be; the fact that you think I got Ford as he is supposed to be makes me feel better.**

 **Anyway, here we go!**

 **Chapter 33 – Dinner Guest**

 **Maria's POV**

When we stepped into my house, it was pretty clear that dinner was about to get underway. The smells that collided with our noses only made Stanford's stomach growl again as I liked my lips hungrily.

"Mom! I'm back!" I called as I stepped into the kitchen. "And I've brought a guest with me!"

Mom looked up as she was putting a glass tray with what looked like meatloaf in the middle of the table. Her green eyes widened a moment later. "Oh my gosh – Maria, where did you—"

"He popped in on Cybertron apparently. Wildfire and Joshua got him down here before he died from lack of oxygen." I smiled back at Stanford. "Dr. Pines, this is my mom, Katie."

"Greetings," Stanford stepped forward and held out a six-fingered hand. Mom yanked off her oven mitt and accepted the handshake. "I have been informed by Maria that you were a traveler yourself at one point."

"Yes, but that was back when I was a younger. I haven't done any traveling since Maria was five years old." Mom removed the other oven mitt from her other hand and placed them on the counter before calling, "Dinner's ready! And we're going to need an extra chair – Maria's back, and she's brought a guest!"

There came the sound of feet thumping against the carpet, and Matthew appeared in the doorway between the kitchen and the living room. "Who's—" He cut himself off as his eyes widened sharply, and then he scrambled out of sight. "Cartoon character alert!"

"And that was…." Stanford trailed off.

"My older brother, Matthew," I replied. I walked over to the sink and washed my hands off, adding, "I've got a younger sister and a younger brother, too."

"That's…quite a large family." Stanford looked over at the table set for six as Mom put my plate in my usual spot. "You don't have to set a place for me – I can—"

"I insist." Mom looked up at him with that "don't argue with the mother" look she always got when we were younger. She gained a kind smile a moment later. "Now, how about you take off your coat? If you're going to be staying a while you may as well look it."

Stanford didn't even attempt to protest, which made me gain an amused expression as I dried my hands. He started to shrug off his black trench coat, revealing that there were a number of empty holsters for guns attached to the belt at his waist – Joshua must've removed them while Stanford was still unconscious.

That made me feel a little better about him being in the house. It meant that he wasn't going to be reaching for his weapon and nearly shooting someone in the head.

Stanford was draping the coat over the chair at the foot of the table when Dad came into the room with a folding chair, followed by Matthew, Liz, and Collin.

Dad stopped short and blinked in surprise. "Whoa. Cartoon character alert is right." He shook his head and stepped into the room as I moved over to the table and sat down at my usual spot. "You don't seem to surprised that we're throwing that term around."

"Maria and your neighbor Joshua explained the situation well enough," Stanford replied. "You are her father, I assume."

"Yeah. Morgen." Dad held out a hand, grinning as Stanford grabbed it in a handshake. "Man, that _is_ one finger friendlier than normal." He chuckled, then slipped his hand out of Stanford's grip and unfolded the chair. "I guess I'll be taking this one, then." He placed it at the head of the table next to where Mom normally sat, then turned around and accepted the plate and silverware that Mom happened to be holding. "Thank you, dear." He gave her a peck on the cheek before sitting down as my siblings slowly filed in.

"I know that we've been seeing a lot of crazy stuff this summer, but this has to take the cake," Liz said. She slowly turned her attention from Stanford to look over at where I was sitting to his left, a grin on my face at their reactions. "How do you manage to pull stuff like this off?"

"Hey, this wasn't my doing," I replied, raising my hands. "I was off at Atlantis again; I was nowhere near Dr. Pines when he popped over into our dimension."

"Atlantis?" Matthew gave me an odd look at that while Stanford looked at me with an interested expression. "You were there for the sequel movie?"

"Part of it. The problem was that Rourke's sense of revenge had come back from the dead – apparently – and wanted to destroy the world just because he couldn't make off with the Heart of Atlantis." I snorted and rolled my eyes. "Lea and Riku were there to help us hunt him down in the American Southwest and finish him off. They were the ones to deal the final blow, actually."

Matthew nodded. "Seems right; they are trained to do that kind of thing."

"Yeah, but Rourxke was completely terrified of my firepower. Kinda makes me wish I could have done more than just shield everyone else." I folded my arms and huffed as my siblings got ready and started to sit at the table.

"I'm sorry, I am at a loss as to what you are talking about," Stanford said.

"You mean who haven't been to one of the Disney worlds in the Multiverse yet?" Dad asked in surprise. "They're kind of hard to avoid."

"Dad, he comes _from_ a Disney universe," I pointed out. Noticing the odd look on Stanford's face, I explained, "It's the company that produces your cartoon here. They do the same thing for a number of other worlds, so we just refer to them by the studio that released the animation."

"Ah." Understanding flickered across Stanford's face, only for him to frown a moment later. "I wasn't aware that Disney released cartoons. Aren't they only creators of animated films?"

"At first," Mom replied. "But then they started to branch out in order to get to more people. _Gravity Falls_ is actually one of the better cartoons that they've released as of late."

"…I'm not sure how to feel about that."

"Then don't think about it." I shrugged as Stanford looked over at me and as Matthew, Liz, and Collin started to sit around at the table. "I mean, there's a video game _in this dimension_ about what happened my third time off-world." I raised my left hand and rapped against my right shoulder, causing a metallic noise as a result of contact with the shoulder guard. "People tried to bug me about it at first, but they eventually learned to leave me alone about it."

"The hard way," Matthew responded. "I don't think those freshmen will ever be looking at you the same way again."

I snorted. "I should hope not. 'Wily mode' my af—"

"Maria, no Cybertronian swears at the table." Mom sent me a harsh look as she started cutting the meatloaf.

I sank down a little in my seat as Stanford eyed me with a surprised expression.

"How about we keep off that subject?" Dad suggested with a serious glint in his eye. "Stanford, how long do you plan on staying here?"

"A week at most. Joshua has allowed me access to his laboratory and materials to allow me to complete a project of mine." He paused when he saw the knowing look that I sent my mom. "Considering that some of you are at least somewhat familiar with myself, I am going to have to assume that you might be familiar with it in part."

"Trigger-happy finger," Liz muttered, causing Stanford to look at her sharply.

"You can be pretty trigger-happy too, you know." Matthew sent Liz a pointed look from across the table to where she was sitting between me and Mom. "Or don't you remember what happened when we were going against that fire monster in Luigi's Dreamscape?"

Stanford stiffened while I blinked in surprise. Liz simply scowled back at our brother.

"Luigi?" I repeated. "You don't mean… _Mario_ and Luigi, do you? You guys went to the Mushroom Kingdom?" My eyebrows shot up in surprise.

"And helped out with _Dream Team,_ yeah." Matthew grinned. "Liz got stuck as a little fairy for almost the whole time we were there."

"For the last time, I was a Pixil!" Liz snapped in reply, slamming her hands on the table. She ducked her head when Mom sent her a reproachful look, but she still sent Matthew a simmering glare. "And that's only because I opened a portal into the Dream World. _You_ got one straight to their island in the waking one."

I blinked. Slowly. Then I frowned in confusion. "How did _that_ work? The Dream World can only be accessed in the game through Luigi dreaming, right? So why is it that Liz got _in_ there just by making a _portal?_ "

"Are you saying that it's possible to create a portal into someone's _mind?"_ Stanford asked abruptly. There was a stiffness about him – he was gripping the table and looked like he was ready to leap up and bolt at any moment.

"The Dream World's more like a place where people go when they sleep – I wasn't _actually_ in Luigi's head," Liz replied, her simmering glare shifting to something else. "It's, uh…it's like the Mindscape, but it isn't. It's just another world attached to the physical one."

"Like different dimensional planes on the same world," I realized. "Like with _Stranger Things_ and the Shadowzone! It's just a dimension connected to that world that can interact with it, not quite its own world but at the same time not quite the world that it's connected to."

Stanford looked confused for a moment. He frowned, relaxing slightly but still looking stiff. "I believe I understand what you're attempting to explain. You simply used this 'Luigi's' mind as a way into another plane of existence?"

Matthew and Liz nodded in response.

"Which is pretty cool when you think about it," Collin spoke up, "Cause it means that there's lots more places to explore."

"Maybe, but it's gonna take a lot of energy to peel back the barriers between layers," I replied. "And there are some things that I'd rather _not_ see running around back and forth between dimensions."

"Like the monster from _Stranger Things?"_ Matthew asked cheekily.

I glared back at him. "Especially that thing."

Mom cleared her throat. "I hope you realize the meatloaf is getting cold and you should all be eating it."

All of us ducked our heads – even Stanford somehow managed to look sheepish, which I was not expecting from an inter-dimensional traveler such as himself.

"If you want to talk about World Jumping, do it either _while_ you're eating or _after_ dinner," Mom added.

We quickly separated the meatloaf among the seven of us and settled into eating the beef-based meal.

Stanford swallowed a bite before blinking in surprise, looking down at his plate with almost an amazed expression. Then he started eating it at a quickened pace.

"Slow down!" Dad laughed. "It's not like it's going to run away from you."

"You never know," Stanford muttered between bites. "I've been to a dimension where food _has_ to be eaten alive. Civilization was practically non-existent three times a day."

We all stared at Stanford with wide-eyed expressions.

"Whoa…." Collin – the youngest of us and the only one of us with truly blond hair – gained a sparkle in his eyes. "I kinda want to go there now."

"If it means attacking your food like a wild animal, I'd prefer it if you didn't," Mom replied, giving him a pointed look.

"But Mom, I haven't been anywhere yet!"

"And you're not going to go anywhere unless there's a world that needs your help." Mom ruffled Collin's hair affectionately.

Stanford looked up slowly from his cleared plate. "Are you saying that _all_ of you are World Jumpers?"

"Well, we don't know yet if Collin will be, but yeah." Matthew shrugged, then took a large bite of meatloaf. He swallowed before adding, "Maria and Liz were the ones who started the whole thing off; the rest of us have just been along for the ride."

"Well, you were when we went to that Justice League world that kinda crossed over with ours a little," I pointed out. Looking at Stanford, I added, "They had Cybertronians like we do, but I didn't run into any counterpart of mine while I was there."

"Hm." Stanford inclined his head thoughtfully at that. "But how do the portals _work,_ then? If you are opening them yourselves, does that mean you are taking the energy directly from yourselves or accessing some massive energy reserve?"

"It drains us," Matthew replied. "Maria's got more experience with holding them open for longer, though."

"Considering I've had six Cybertronians go through three of them?" I replied, raising an eyebrow. "Yeah, I should think so. You've only gone off-world twice by yourself, and that's only just this summer. Liz has done it four times now – twice at the same time as me, and two times this summer – and I've done it…" I paused, counting on my fingers. "Atlantis, Neo-Mobius, Neo-Earth, Smash Worlds, Justice League, Axiom Nexus, Reverse Cybertron—"

"We get it, you've done it a lot!" Liz burst out before I could get to the two places I'd been to so far this summer.

As it was, I was already on seven fingers, and Stanford was staring at me like I'd just admitted that I'd read his journals cover to cover and had kicked a gremgoblin in the face.

I considered the thought for a moment, then shook it off. No, he'd probably look even _more_ impressed if I'd said I'd read his journals and fought a monster from his home dimension.

"I cannot believe that there are World Jumpers that exist who start as young as you are," Stanford said finally, looking around the table. I noticed that his plate had been cleared of practically every single crumb of meatloaf that there could have been. "The Multiverse is a dangerous place. If anything, I would have thought that you would have found mentors before-"

"Lea and Riku were my mentors," I replied. "And they're only a couple years older than me at most."

"Sora and Kairi were mine, then, I guess." Liz tapped her chin. "Though I _think_ they're the same age as me? Kinda hard to tell with Disney characters."

Matthew pointed across the table at me. "Last summer."

I shrugged, a smug look appearing on my face.

Stanford stared at us with an incredulous expression.

"How much do you know about World Jumpers, Dr. Pines?" Dad asked, raising an eyebrow. "Because as far as we know, _all_ World Jumper start out around this age. The ones we knew did, anyway." He motioned to Mom, who nodded in agreement.

"Call me Ford, please," Stanford said, raising a hand. "As for your question, I have only heard rumors about a few World Jumpers. I haven't been able to claim that I've met any in person before, either."

"Rumors are pretty interesting sometimes," Collin spoke up.

"Yes, but they also claimed that some World Jumpers grow a second head and another arm." Stanford shook his head at the thought.

"Eugh." My nose crinkled at the idea. "Two heads can sometimes be better than one, but not with a species that wasn't built for two heads on the same body."

"Sounds like Beeblebrox from _Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy,"_ Matthew said. He paused. "I hope that doesn't mean _he's_ a World Jumper."

"If he is and I run into him, I'm going to just turn around and come back," I said flatly. "Those books are insane and the characters in them might as well be, too."

"You're talking about this guide like it's a book series," Stanford noted, frowning.

"Because it is," Dad replied. "It's about a group of people who are using the Guide and traveling around the universe."

"They made a movie about the first one a couple years ago," Mom added.

I snickered.

"Hm. Interesting." Stanford looked down at his empty plate for a moment, then started to rise up from the table. "Well, thank you for the meal, but I have something that I really must finish before Maria attempts to send me back to my home dimension. I do not intend to leave it unfinished before my planned week here is up."

"You sure you don't want any dessert?" Mom asked. "I baked a strawberry pie earlier this afternoon."

Stanford paused at the mention of sweets.

"Mom's pies are really good," I added. Stanford probably hadn't had actual human food in who knew _how_ long, and I was more than willing to get him to stick around and have as much of Mom's food as possible while he was here.

Mom rose from the table and went over to the refrigerator to pull out the pie. I caught sight of the strawberries sticking up from the filling and licked my lips. "I have some whipping cream that I made as well, so if you want to add that to your slice of pie, you can."

I looked over at Stanford and held down my amused expression as best I could. The man clearly looked conflicted: work on his device, or eat pie and work on it a little bit later.

As it was, I probably had the weirdest look on my face because Matthew was raising an eyebrow at me from across the table.

Stanford ended up staying for the pie. He looked too amazed to even consider biting into it at first, but when Mom offered him the whipped cream…well, if it was anyone else, Dad probably would have jokingly asked if we wanted pie with our whipped cream.

Eventually, Stanford finished the strawberry pie. I handed over a napkin so that he could wipe the excess whipped cream off his face.

"Marvelous," Stanford said. He accepted the napkin and got the whipped cream off his face. "I haven't had a meal like that in…well, a long time."

"Well, you can expect more of them if you come by our home again," Mom replied. "Breakfast, lunch, dinner – it doesn't matter, there's usually something that smells nice in this house."

"I'm thinking about making French toast tomorrow," Dad added, sending a knowing look to Mom. "And maybe put some omelets together, too."

Stanford gained an odd look on his face at that, his eyes seeming to get _wider_ , like a wild animal's that was getting ready to pounce on something that clearly looked delicious. He caught himself a moment later and shook his head, however, clearing his throat and blinking a couple times as he schooled his expression back into something more professional. "I shall…keep that in mind. For now, however, I have something that needs to be attended to." He rose from his seat.

Mom rose at the same time, and came around and took Stanford's plate from his spot. "Maria, you'll lead him back to Joshua's laboratory, then?"

"I know the—"

"Knowing our neighborhood, if anyone sees you alone, you _will_ be mobbed by a small number of crazy fans," Mom said without missing a beat. "Maria can fend them off a little easier than an actual gun can."

I frowned at that. "Mom, most of those crazy people are off on vacation somewhere."

"Yes. Most. That's why you need to serve as the distraction to get our guest back to Joshua's little hiding place." Mom sent me a pointed look. "Now, get going. The dishes can wait until you get back."

 _"Mom,_ I just _got_ back! Don't tell me that it's my turn to wash the dishes again!"

"Yes it does, and it's not my fault the schedule ended up like that. Now, get going – time is of the essence, remember?" Mom's pointed look intensified.

I sighed irritably, then rose to my feet and pushed my chair in. "All right, then. I'll take you back to Joshua's lab, Dr. Pines – he might not be there, though; he's got a family, too."

"He knows that I require access to his lab and the materials therein; I doubt that he would mind me being there alone," Stanford replied.

"Joshua's pretty protective about his stuff; if that's true, then you're probably the exception." I started out of the kitchen and then headed out of the house, Stanford right behind me as he pulled his black trench coat back on again. "Why are you wearing that thing right now, anyway? It's the middle of summer – you've got to be sweating like crazy under there."

"I've been in worse weather," Stanford replied as we stepped out of the house and onto the street. "Besides, the sun is setting; it's much cooler than it would be in the middle of the day."

"Yeah, but this is the middle of _July._ The humidity is up, I've got to clean my joints out every once in a while to make sure that there isn't condensation building up that could cause rust, and the sun doesn't set until ten." I pointed up at the sky, which was still a bright blue despite the fact that the sun was, indeed, moving closer to the west. "On top of that, you're in the Midwest, where we have some of the most unpredictable weather in the States."

"Are you expecting that to faze me?" Stanford raised an eyebrow.

I blinked at the question, then shrugged. "I don't know. I don't know what dimensions you've been to and what sorts of situations you've gotten into. I guess that I'm just warning you about what you're probably going to be facing weather-wise while you're here."

"Hm. Well, I appreciate the thought, but I assure you that I will be all right. I have been in temperatures both colder and warmer than anything that could possibly happen on Earth."

I shrugged again. "All right. But don't say I didn't warn you when the weather jumps up into the 90s with near 100 percent humidity."

We got to Joshua's lab without very many other words exchanged. Like I'd though, Joshua wasn't there when we got there, but he had left a note behind, saying that Stanford was allowed to use what he needed, as well as a list of instructions on how everything worked and what materials to not let come into contact with each other.

 _"I am not above babysitting if I come back and find that you've managed to blow up not only my lab but the Energon mine attached,"_ the bottom of the note read.

"An Energon mine?" Stanford repeated in surprise.

"Yeah; that's what that other, locked door leads down to." I nodded out to the passageway we'd come in from. "So try to let anything get too explosive in here, and if you want to put together something that could be dangerous, I'm sure Joshua has a spare space suit lying around so that you can take it to Jolt's lab on Cybertron. If it gets that bad." I paused. "I hope it doesn't."

"Your Cybertron's atmosphere is much different than the other Cybertron that I've traveled to," Stanford noted. He reached for his neck absently, as though he could feel the suffocating air again. "More poisonous to organics. That might mean that certain reactions are more explosive or nulled."

"Jolt's lab is built to handle it as far as I know." I shrugged. "Well, I should probably head back. I've probably got a lot of questions waiting for me as to a full story on where I was, and I'd like to get the full story out of my brother and sister, too. The Mushroom Kingdom is pretty big around here, and if they got involved because of some changed events, I'd like to know what happened and why."

"Is this Mushroom Kingdom a cartoon as well?" Stanford looked at me curiously as he started grabbing a bundle of what I guessed to be metal parts from the corner near the cot.

"Well, kinda? But it started as a video game."

Stanford paused. "Video game? I haven't heard that term before."

"Joshua could probably explain it better than I could." I rubbed the back of my head. "Maybe it'd be better if you waited for him to get back. I've got chores to worry about, anyway." I started backing towards the door. "So, um…would it be all right if I popped in tomorrow to see how you're doing?"

Stanford looked completely indifferent. "I suppose so. This is your world and your friend's laboratory, after all; I really have no say in whatever you choose to do."

I nodded – probably a little too quickly. "Y-yeah, right. W-well…seeyoulaterthen!"

I zoomed out of the lab and back to the main street of our neighborhood before Stanford could say anything else.

 _Man,_ that was getting awkward fast.

I slapped a hand over my mouth as I looked back in the direction of the lab before shaking my head and doing my best to keep in a squeal.

"I still can't believe he's _in our dimension!"_ I almost jumped around like an excited fangirl, but I kept it to an excited vibrating instead. "Primus above and below! This is just… _wow!_ "

I jumped from foot to foot a little in excitement before heading down the street back to the house, nearly skipping but not quite doing that.

I slowed when I remembered that Stanford was _not_ here for fun and games – he was still his pre-"Not What He Seems" self, before going back to Gravity Falls and going through Weirdmageddon.

Which meant that I couldn't just fangirl around the guy and expect him to take it in stride. Nor could I really get in his way.

So…this week was definitely going to be… _interesting._

 **Interesting is only the tip of the iceberg, Maria. XD**

 **I'll see you guys next week sometime! I'll have to see what the next semester brings me so that I'll know when I can post, but I hope to get something up then!**


	34. Internet Fame

**Hello! School is back in session and I am back again with the next chapter! I'm nearly done with the two arcs I'm working on right now, too - just need a couple more chapters and then I'm onto the next one!**

 **Shadescribe - Yeah, she's pretty good at holding back. She's traveled to world where her favorite characters are alive and well, after all; she probably knows how to reign it in by now. As it is, she's still pretty excited, though. :)**

 **Here comes the next chapter!**

 **Chapter 34 – Internet Fame**

 **Maria's POV**

I didn't go over to Joshua's lab until the next afternoon, and that was mostly because I spent the morning emptying my Tumblr inbox. Again. There was the usual stuff – asking what worlds I was going to, if I could answer a few questions concerning cosplay (those were some awkward ones….), and if I could do a few roleplays with a couple other roleplay blogs that happened to pop up on my dash on occasion.

"I still don't get why you roleplay as yourself with those character blogs while pretending that you're just a character," Matthew said as I closed my laptop.

"They think I'm a character already, and when they found my blog…." I trailed off and shrugged. I slipped my laptop into my backpack and slipped it into my subspace. "I'm just playing along for the fun of it. I did it a lot during the school year."

"Yeah, when you somehow managed to finish your homework at lightning speed and used that superbrain of yours." Matthew gently rapped the top of my head and smirked as I glared at him. "Come on, you have to admit that the thing's pretty useful."

"And the one I had before wasn't?" I raised an eyebrow at him.

Matthew spluttered at that, suddenly looking sheepish and embarrassed at his own words. "W-well, I – I didn't mean –"

"I know what you meant." I smirked, causing Matthew to relax a little. "Hey, don't you have to go to work in a little bit?"

"Yeah, but I've got a couple more minutes before I have to head out." Matthew eyed me curiously. "Are you planning on going anywhere?"

"Yeah, I'm hoping to go and see how Dr. Pines and Joshua are doing."

Matthew frowned. "Don't tell me that you're going to go all fangirl as soon as you get there."

I spluttered at that as Matthew grinned at me. "Wh-what – no! I am not going to do that!"

"You're turning red, Maria," my older brother chided as I started to back out of the kitchen. "Is that hero worship I see?"

 _"Matthew!"_ I let out a yelp. "Why would – I mean –"

"Come on, you and practically everyone else who watches and rewatches _Gravity Falls_ on a regular basis would follow that guy to the ends of the earth. Just…try to keep a level head, okay?"

"Matt, I've fought Legendary Pokémon before and have been able to survive with hardly any injuries. I can take care of myself and keep a level head." I smirked a little. "I'll be back in a couple hours. You'll probably still be at work, though."

"Yeah, probably." Matthew dropped a hand on my head and mussed up my hair. "You go have fun messing with the old nerd."

"Yeah, yeah." I ducked out from under Matthew's hand and slipped out the door and into the July heat – which, actually, didn't feel all that bad, but that was probably because I was used to releasing so much heat already.

As I went down the street towards Joshua's house, I could hear kids squealing in some of the backyards of our neighbors, as well as the sound of splashing water. Obviously, our neighbors had broken out the pools and sprinklers, and the little kids in the area were enjoying themselves immensely.

I smirked a little when I heard a particularly loud shriek as I slipped behind Joshua's house and headed towards his lab. I decided that I'd have to ask Liz later if she'd be willing to do some sort of water thing for the kids around here. It would definitely help a lot of people cool off.

The cave that Joshua's lab was hidden away in was much cooler than the outside. I could hear voices as I approached that area of the cave system – Stanford and Joshua were discussing something, probably the thing that Stanford was attempting to put together.

"…realize that there were other beings in the Nightmare Realm other than Cipher and his ilk," Stanford was saying as I stepped into the lab.

"Hey, guys. What are you—" I stopped short, blinking in surprise when I saw what was going on in the room. My eyes widened in confusion as Stanford and Joshua looked over at me. "U-uh…what's going on? What's that thing?"

There was a large, light bulb-shaped object sitting near the back of the lab. It was probably big enough to hold me if I happened to be sitting with my knees pressed up against my chest, and it was filled with some kind of translucent, blue-gray gas that didn't quite look right.

And sitting _in_ that gas was a _naked,_ blond-haired girl with a pair of white, feathery wings pressed up against her back. Her blue eyes widened as soon as she caught sight of me.

"That," Joshua replied, "is one of the winged figures Liz saw when traveling between worlds. I've managed to give them a way to be seen in our dimension."

 _Puff!_

I jolted in surprise when the girl disappeared in a puff of swirling blue smoke. The gas inside the bulb shifted and twisted at the sudden disappearance, then settled into a stagnant fog.

"…I think I might have seen it before, too," I said carefully. "When I went to Atlantis – there were a _lot_ of them flying around then for some reason. I wasn't able to get a good look at them before, though. I definitely wasn't expecting her to be _naked_."

"You didn't see what she had on her back under her wings," Joshua replied. "I doubt you would have been expecting that."

I frowned at that, suddenly feeling uneasy about the strange, seemingly "angelic" creature. "When did you make that?"

"On Cybertron with Jolt. I hooked it up last night, and we received a small number of visitors as a result throughout the night while we were working. They all seem to be female and were rather curious about what it was that we were doing." Joshua paused. "They _also_ seem to be releasing a large amount of energy, which has actually given my lab a more efficient energy source. I've made it an auxiliary source for now, so that I am not draining our visitors. I hope to be able to find a way to communicate with one of them and see why they are visiting and if they are aware of the energy drain."

My eyebrows furrowed together. "Yeah, that'd definitely be a good idea."

"For what reason are you here?" Stanford asked.

"I just thought I'd see how you guys are doing." I shrugged. "I'm not planning on heading out again anywhere for a while, but I'm definitely going to be heading to Neo-Mobius sometime before the end of summer – probably the first week of August – so I've got a load of free time between now and then." I paused. "Besides, if I'm going to be getting Dr. Pines back to his home dimension, then I'm going to have to stick around anyway."

Joshua nodded in response. "That is so. I doubt that it would be wise of you to disappear for a week when we are going to be in need of your assistance."

"Indeed," Stanford agreed, nodding slightly. He paused. "I assume that you have duties to attend to as a World Jumper of this dimension?"

I blinked at the question, then shrugged. "Not that I'm aware of. I've only done this for the last two years; I mean, I haven't really _met_ any other World Jumpers, so I don't really know everything that World Jumpers can do."

"Hm." Stanford frowned. "What of the mentors you mentioned last night? Lea and Riku?"

"They're Keyblade Wielders, not World Jumpers. Little different, but not by much." I waved a hand in a "so-so" motion. "Mostly in the fact that they're only looking over a specific part of the Multiverse rather than the whole thing – the Disney universes."

"Which would mean that my dimension falls under their jurisdiction," Stanford noted.

I waved my hand again. "Technically, yes. But they can't get involved in anything big plot-wise; Keyblade wielders only jump in if the world's having a problem with a couple different brands of personified darkness. Like if, say, your entire person happened to get split in two and turned into a monster of darkness and a shell of your former self."

Stanford stared at me blankly.

"It has happened to other people," Joshua said. "Lea was in that very situation himself at one point."

I nodded as Stanford looked over at Joshua sharply.

"Heartless and Nobodies are the main thing that they fight against," I added. "They basically represent negative emotions and corruption as a whole, so Keyblade wielders fight to keep their worlds in balance. It's a pretty constant fight for them."

"Hm. Perhaps I should find one of these 'Keyblade wielders' speak with them concerning my own dimension," Stanford commented. "If I ever manage to come into contact with one."

"They could end up popping over to your dimension after a while; I don't know what could happen in order to get them to do that, though."

Stanford hummed at that. "Considering the danger that my dimension is in, I should think that they would want to get involved."

"Considering that there's a proven dimension where you managed to defeat him, I doubt that they're going to be willing to step in right away," I responded.

"Maria does speak truly," Joshua commented. "For now, we should focus on what we can do, rather than what could happen."

Stanford nodded, gaining a determined expression. "You're right. And we are nearly done here." He turned to look at the table that was nearby, and I blinked in surprise when I saw a large, bazooka-like gun, nearly fully assembled lying on the table. There were a few tools and parts scattered around it, but if it weren't for them, I would have thought that it was already complete.

"Whoa, you guys work fast," I commented in amazement. "I guess it helps that Joshua's got so much stuff to work with, huh?"

"And Jolt, as well," Stanford said. His eyes were shining with an odd expression – amazement or scientific wonder, maybe. "I had no idea that the labs of an Autobot Cybertronian would hold so much knowledge and technology that could be compatible with Earth's."

"You went up to Cybertron for some stuff, huh?" I grinned a little.

"He didn't meet any Cybertronians other than Jolt," Joshua said pointedly, raising an eyebrow at me. "As we are in a hurry, I doubt it would be wise to have stayed any longer and investigated Cybertronian's people or their culture."

"Although, if I did not have an end goal in mind, I don't doubt that I would be interested in studying them more closely," Stanford admitted.

I couldn't help but grin a little wider at that. "I knew it. I knew you'd be interested!" I pulled my backpack out of subspace, causing Stanford to actually _jump_ in surprise. I zipped the backpack open and pulled out a thick book with a black leather cover. "We've got a couple copies of this and an earlier edition back at home, but I figured you might want to have a look at this later." I held the book out to Stanford, who took it reluctantly. "It's basically their entire history text. They call if _The Covenant of Primus."_

"Interesting." Stanford bounced the book in his hands a little for a moment. "This is quite the tome. I will have to see if I will have the time to read it later."

"There's a key in the back for some basic Cybertronian, too," I added. "If you wanted to mess around with writing notes in it or something."

"Hm!" Stanford's eyebrows shot up in an impressed expression. "That will certainly be something interesting to look into. For now, however, I have a project to finish." He set the tome aside and moved towards the weapon lying on the table.

"If you want to stick around, Maria, you can sit back there." Joshua nodded to the light bulb-shaped object, which was still unoccupied. "It will be far enough away from us that we won't end up tripping over you."

I nodded as Stanford looked up for a moment before going back to his work; I moved around him and the rest of Joshua's lab equipment before sitting down next to the bulb and pulling out my laptop. In moments, I was back on the Internet, perusing the usual sites that I haunted whenever I happened to be online.

The sound of tools shuffling around and bits of metal banging together filled the lab for a few minutes, then stopped.

"Where exactly did that backpack come from?" Stanford asked suddenly.

"Subspace," I replied, not looking up from my laptop. "It's like a personal pocket dimension; Joshua knows more about the mechanics for it than I do."

"Because you're not interested in learning," Joshua replied.

"Meh." I waved a hand. "Science was never my forte. Math gets in the way a bit too much for that."

Stanford grunted something that sounded like it could have been agreement. I wondered if that meant he really _was_ bad at math, like the rest of the fandom thought.

Or that he actually _was_ scared of snakes, even.

Well, I wasn't about to test that now. I jumped back onto Tumblr and refreshed the page….

Only to be met with a post that made me groan. "Great. It's starting."

"What is?"

I looked up over the top of my laptop to see Stanford looking at me expectantly. Joshua watched out of the corner of his eye as he continued working on something.

I turned the laptop around, tilting the screen so that the glare from the ceiling lights wouldn't completely block the picture out from sight. "Someone in our neighborhood caught sight of you last night when we were heading back here from my house. I bet the picture's already made it's way to Alex Hirsch, and I've got a number of people tagging me in it to confirm whether or not you are actually in this dimension."

Stanford's eyes narrowed sharply at that. "Who is Alex Hirsch?"

"The creator of the cartoon you happen to be starring in," Joshua replied. "He's generally known as the Man in Flannel."

"Fans like him a lot," I added. "Let's see…is it on his – oh no, it _is_ on his Twitter page. I'm gonna have to make a post about this before it gets too out of hand; the picture was put online a couple hours ago, so I have time to step in before things go too crazy."

"You mean you can't remove it?" Stanford asked. He left his tools on the table and came over, a dark look on his face as he crouched next to me.

"The Internet is a tricky place," I replied. "As soon as stuff gets posted, it's impossible to remove, and besides, at that point, people all over the world would have seen it. So the best thing I can do at this point is try to calm things down before everyone goes nuts."

Stanford scowled at that as I pulled up Alex's Twitter post in order to get another look at the picture that he'd retweeted: one of me and Stanford walking down the street, probably right after dinner last night.

"Judging from the houses…must've been Kira." I clicked my tongue against my teeth. "She's gotten a lot different since Cyrus' Second Attempt. I don't know if she absorbed Dark-Type or Ghost-Type DNA or _what,_ but I'm going to probably have a talk to her about her tricksterous behavior recently."

"A friend of yours?" Stanford guessed.

"Yeah; I don't see her very often anymore, though; she's been running with a different crowd. We never really hung out much anyway, but she does know that I like to keep my private life off the Internet." Then I grumbled under my breath, "Which has only gotten harder since the release of those video games and the news spreading about our particular neighborhood…."

I frowned at Hirsch's tweet for a moment – _"Anyone else got any more news about this being real?"_ – before jumping back over to Tumblr and opening up a post.

I cracked my knuckles, getting an odd look from Stanford. I looked over at him, setting my jaw a little. "I don't want to let people know that you're here, but people have already done that. Again, the monster you're hunting down hasn't gotten to this dimension as far as I know, and considering that people have knowledge of his existence now, I doubt that he's going to be able to get into our dimension so easily. Especially since I don't think we have any weird hotspots like your dimension does. So…would you feel all right if I said something about this concerning you?"

Stanford blinked at the question as Joshua looked over at us with a guarded expression. Stanford gained a guarded expression himself a moment later. "So long as you make no mention of where I happen to be in this dimension, or as to where I might be at a given time, so be it. If they are already aware of my presence here, and Bill Cipher is unable to reach this dimension for one reason or another, then it is less likely that I will be hunted down. However, I am not about to let my guard down."

I blinked in surprise at Stanford's statement. I hadn't expected him to give me permission to let me mention him in a post online of any kind. Then I nodded slightly, turned to look at my computer, and started typing quickly.

"Okay, guys. So I know you saw the photo. I'm planning on having a talk with the photographer later about reminding her that I'd prefer to keep my private, in-this-dimension life as offline as possible.

"I can confirm that the man with me is indeed Dr. Stanford Pines – _a_ Stanford Pines, anyway; I can't say for certain that he's the one from the cartoon or not. He knows about the cartoon, by the way, but I haven't given him too many spoilers for the ending _for a reason._ Go ahead and tell Alex Hirsch, but Stanford's gonna be gone by the end of the week, so I doubt that he's gonna be able to come over and visit.

"And besides, I wouldn't recommend it. Stanford's still on his '30 years traveling the multiverse' tour, so he's serious and grumpy and hasn't had a chance to meet his great-niblings yet. Or shoot Bill in the eye, whichever will happen to come first for this version of him.

"You probably won't get a chance to see him again, but if you do, _don't bug him with questions or autographs._ He's got a lot bigger things to worry about and probably won't have time to talk to fans who happen to be in my neighborhood.

"So, in summary, yes, Gravity Falls is real, no, it's not in this dimension, and no, Stanford Pines hasn't found his way back yet and he doesn't want to be bugged or found."

I paused, then looked over at Stanford, who had been looking over my shoulder as I'd been writing. "Think anything needs to be added?"

Stanford frowned at my question, scanning the post over a couple times. "As a preliminary statement on my presence here, it summarizes my position well."

"I'm probably going to get questions – either about what you're doing, what I'm doing about you here, and what's going to happen and if I'm going to send you to your home dimension. I'll make sure to mention the questions to you when they start coming in and whether or not they should be answered, but I'm sure that I'll just delete a large number of them if they start getting too prodding." I moved to hit the post button, then took in a deep breath and slowly exhaled. "OK. Hopefully this'll keep people from getting too deep in conspiracy theories."

I hit "Post."

I leaned back against the wall behind me and sighed. "Here we go."

"Dr. Pines, I think this might be nearly done," Joshua called over.

Stanford raised his head to look over at Joshua, then rose up from his crouch and moved back over to where he had Joshua had been working on the weapon. I refreshed my Tumblr page and waited for the asks to start pouring into my inbox.

 _Puff!_

I blinked in surprise at the noise, and turned my head towards the light bulb and stiffened in surprise.

The angel-girl from before was back, and now I could see what was on her back.

And _good golly wompus._

"Joshua, do these interdimensional angels reproduce by _budding?"_ I asked loudly.

"Perhaps," Joshua replied without missing a beat. "I haven't had a chance to figure out how they communicate or how we can communicate with them."

I looked over at the figure in the light bulb as she folded in her wings and looked at me with a wide-eyed expression. She put a hand up against the glass, and her eyes flicked down to mine for a moment.

I frowned a little, curious, then cautiously lifted my left hand and pressed it against the glass.

 _WorldJumper?Friend?Ally?_

I _jolted_ when I heard the voice in my head – it almost sounded like a tinkling of bells, but it was what I _felt_ that caused my reaction.

I felt curiosity. A _lot_ of curiosity.

The bells kept going, and I suddenly became aware of the fact that there was… _something…_ moving around in my head. Not physically, but…mentally.

 _WorldJumperFriendAlly._ The way the voice sounded then was more of a definite nod of confirmation than the first time. The girl on the other side of the glass nodded slightly.

I blinked a couple times, wide-eyed. "…Whoa."

"What is it?" Joshua looked over.

"Hang on." I shifted my focus a little. _I'm Maria. Do you have a name?_

I heard a chorus of bells, but nothing else.

 _Can I call you Belle?_

Another chorus of bells. The girl gained a wide smile on the other side of the glass.

"I think they're communicating," Stanford commented. "Fascinating."

I frowned slightly, keeping my eyes focused on Belle. _Didn't see you before. Why are you appearing now?_

Belle's smile wavered a little, and I hit with a wave of…of _something._

 _Dangermonstersproblemsotherworldsdangerdangerredeyesdangerdangerdanger—_

 _Puff!_

I jolted back, blinking abruptly as Belle disappeared without so much as a warning. I pulled my hand back from the glass with a befuddled expression that shifted to worry a moment later.

"What happened?" Stanford asked, rushing back over.

I blinked a couple times, then shook my head, Belle's warning fading into the back of my mind. "I'm not sure. She – I asked her why they only started showing up recently and she said, or…more like she _conveyed…_ that there was something dangerous happening in other places. Monsters and…red eyes." I frowned, biting my lower lip. "But…I haven't _heard_ about anything like that. And considering my pension for getting _visions_ of other worlds when they're having problems, you'd think that I _would_ have."

Stanford frowned. "Hm. That does sound troublesome. What do you make of it?"

"Well, I think I just found the source of the _unease_ I've been feeling since the start of summer. Only now that tension's decided to shoot up a bit." My frown deepened. "I'm going to have to find out where they're coming from and what's going on, but the problem is I don't know what dimension or world their causing problems on. Belle wasn't very specific."

"Her name is Belle?" Joshua asked.

"Well…not exactly. It's like there were a lot of bells going off in my head whenever she spoke, so…I kinda figured that'd work." I shrugged.

"Hm. Interesting. So they communicate on a mental level despite their human appearance and seem to have some type of sound or sensation associated with them." Joshua nodded slightly. "I'll have to investigate more if I ever have other visitors. In the meantime, Stanford, I think your weapon is complete."

I blinked in surprise as Stanford moved back over to where his weapon was lying. I closed my laptop and got to my feet. "Really? That was fast."

"Well, we did work all night, and I had managed to complete a large amount of the work except for a few final pieces," Stanford replied. He picked up the weapon and inspected it, looking down along the barrel and grinning. He gave a short chuckle. "Perfect!"

I smiled a little as I hid my laptop away in my backpack, which then disappeared back into my subspace.

"Which means that Maria can attempt to open a portal to your home world tomorrow," Joshua said, nodding slightly. "We'll know then if we need to rely on your unstable portal to send you back to your home dimension."

"Why don't we try it now?" Stanford raised an eyebrow, looking up from his sci-fi bazooka.

Joshua looked over at me, frowning slightly. "I believe she's still somewhat shaken up after her encounter with Belle. It would be best if we all got some proper rest and waited to do this until tomorrow."

I could feel my shoulders relax at that; I think Stanford noticed because he closed his mouth and relaxed his frown before nodding.

"I'd suggest you sleep over at the Carlsdales' tonight," Joshua added. "I talked to Mr. Carlsdale this morning and he said they have the pull-out bed in the couch ready for you."

Stanford spluttered at that. "They don't—"

"Stanford."

Stanford looked over at me sharply, not used to me saying his first name when I'd been addressing him as "Dr. Pines" the last few times I'd seen him.

"Mom and Dad know what it's like to be dimensionally displaced. We all do. And they're more than willing to make you as comfortable as possible and make sure that you're actually fully energized for when you can finally face against your mortal enemy."

Stanford frowned. "I am more than capable of taking care of myself, young lady."

"Considering that she speaks from experience, I'd take her up on it," Joshua replied casually, gathering up the tools they had been making use of. "Maria has burned herself out taking on opponents before; it wouldn't be wise for you to go in at half your strength and do the exact same thing, especially considering that you do not have the ability to set everything within reach on fire like she can."

Stanford gained a disbelieving expression; I held up a hand and let a sphere of fire form on top of my fingers, causing his eyes to widen.

"Yeah, I've, uh…I've burned myself out a few times. I don't think that it'd be a good thing if that happened to you, too." I paused, then added, "Dad's cooking tonight. Steaks. You'll probably be able to smell them grilling on the way back to the house."

Stanford paused at that. I could almost see the drool slipping out of the corner of his mouth. Finally, he sighed and shook his head. "All right, since the two of you seem so insistent upon it, I will go back with you."

"I'll keep an eye on your weapon here," Joshua said. "Your belongings will be safe here, I assure you."

Stanford hesitated, still holding onto his sci-fi bazooka.

"The Carlsdales wouldn't exactly appreciate having guns in the home, considering that Collin hasn't World Jumped yet and how jumpy you are," Joshua pointed out. "Besides, Maria is not the only one with unique abilities. They can defend themselves and you if the need arises."

"Yup." I nodded as Stanford looked over at me. "My older brother can use aura, my sister can utilize water, and our younger brother has control over electricity. Whatever happens, we'll be fine."

"And I will not touch your weapons while you're away," Joshua added. "I will lock the lab door when we leave tonight and give you access again tomorrow morning. We can attempt opening a portal then."

Stanford hesitated again, appearing uncertain, then nodded slowly. "Very well." He placed the bazooka back down on the table, then strode past me and out the door. I quickly followed after him.

 **Can anyone guess where "Belle" originates from? I'll give you a hint: it's an anime/manga that is more popular in the West than in Japan, especially when it came out back in the 1990s. The whole bulb thing should be a good enough hint...heh heh.**

 **I'll see you guys next week!**


	35. Night Talks

**I'm baaaack! And I'm still twenty-ish chapters ahead of you guys - starting the second-to-last arc for this story tonight, in fact! As of this point in time, we're looking at 75 chapters total or so, but I can't guarantee that there's gonna be more or less until I know for sure!**

 **Shadescribe - Well, the anime's a pretty obscure one, I guess, since it came out in the mid-90s. Belle isn't a fairy, though - she's something... _different._ As for Maria and her fire powers, I doubt she's gonna have to push herself to do that. She's home, there's nothing going on, so what would be the point of showing off that much? Stanford would definitely burst something trying to figure her powers out, though. XD As for the portal...well, we'll have to wait and see, won't we? :)**

 **Here we go!**

 **Chapter 35 – Night Talks**

 **Maria's POV**

A awoke feeling like something had just lunged at the back of my neck.

"Gah!" I gripped at my chest, metal gloves scraping against my armor as I took in a few deep, uneasy breaths.

I closed my eyes for a moment and caught sight of a red-eyed Wily before shaking my head and forcing my eyes back open.

"No way am I going to sleep after that," I muttered between gasps. I shook my head again, then climbed out of the lower bunk and snuck out of the room I shared with Liz. I grabbed my backpack on the way out.

If I couldn't sleep, I might as well find something to do online, right?

I made my way downstairs and into the kitchen. I was about to flip on the light switch when I saw movement from one of the other entryways into the kitchen.

I activated my infared vision and caught sight of a familiar shape standing defensively in the doorway.

"Ford?" I asked, blinking rapidly to deactivate my infared.

The figure standing in the doorway paused. "Maria? What are you doing awake?"

"Can't sleep," I replied blandly. I hefted my backpack. "I thought I'd do something to distract me, maybe drink some hot chocolate. Do you want some?"

Stanford paused at the question. "That…doesn't seem like a bad idea, actually."

I nodded, then flicked on the kitchen light and moved to put my backpack on one of the kitchen chairs while Stanford blinked rapidly in order to adjust to the sudden flash of light.

"I hope I don't seem harsh in asking this, but…do you even require rest or sustenance?" Stanford asked as I went to the pantry and started looking for the hot chocolate mix.

"Technically, I guess you could call it recharge," I replied as I grabbed the tub of cocoa mix out of the pantry and shut the door. "I need that, at least, but I don't actually need to eat _or_ breathe. Joshua and I can both go up to Cybertron without a problem. As for eating…." I smirked as I remembered something that had happened earlier that year, then reached up into the cupboard and grabbed two mugs. "Joshua decided to fast for all of Lent just to prove that he could and it really drove his parents nuts." I chuckled a little at the memory.

" _All_ of Lent?" Stanford raised an eyebrow.

"Uh-huh. Even the Sundays. He didn't even lose any of the contents of his stomach when he started eating again Easter Sunday, either, which is pretty incredible. For humans, at least." I chuckled as I found one of the larger measuring cups and filled it with water from the sink. "I guess we can get our energy from sunlight, too, so I'm definitely planning on taking advantage of that if I end up going somewhere where there isn't much food or something like that. I still like being able to eat, though. It's an old habit from when I was human before, and I like how things taste."

Stanford considered that for a moment, then nodded. "I suppose there is an appeal in continuing to eat and drink. It would also prevent others from being suspicious about your actions, as well."

"Exactly." I nodded as I slipped the measuring cup into the microwave and set the timer for a couple minutes in order to get the water warmed up, then found a spoon for the cocoa and dropped appropriate amounts of the chocolate mix into the mugs. "That's the reason Joshua stopped after Lent, actually. As far as most people know, though, we're still human." My smile faded slightly. "Word is starting to get out that we're not, though – it doesn't exactly help that I'm considered a fictional _and_ real-life character here." My face scrunched up a little. "Makes for some really weird situations at school, let me tell you. We get visitors from all over the place who just go _nuts_ if they catch sight of even one of us."

"You're sought after that much?" Stanford raised an eyebrow.

"Yeah. We're pretty much superhero celebrities – the only ones around here, actually. So it's kinda hard to hide when you're the only ones who can, say, melt the snow off the parking lot in the middle of winter and get paid for it instead of the school having to call for a plow instead?"

The microwave beeped, and I pulled the water out without even flinching at the hot glass handle under my fingers as I poured the water into the two mugs.

"I suppose that does make it rather difficult to hide your identity," Stanford agreed. "And…no one's tried to come after you or your loved ones?"

I shook my head. "Normally, you'd expect something like that to happen from watching cartoons and things, but it hasn't. Kinda weird, but I'm not complaining."

"Hmm." Stanford raised an eyebrow. "Indeed. Normally, I'd have thought that villains of some kind would start making themselves known and make life difficult for you. You truly must be fortunate here if that's the case."

I hummed and nodded in agreement. "Yeah. It's pretty nice, considering that I've got to pop in and out to different worlds and help them out now. It means that I don't have to worry about things here." I spun the two spoons in the mugs, mixing the chocolate into the water and turning the water a deep chocolate brown. "You want milk in yours? It'll cool it off a little if you don't want to scald your tongue."

Stanford considered that for a moment, then nodded slightly. I promptly went to the refrigerator and fished out a gallon of milk before pouring a little into one of the mugs and mixing that in.

"Okay. There we go." I gently nudged the mug with the milk in it over to Stanford, who took it up in his hands and took a sip from it. Then I took my own and took a swig from it, causing Stanford to stare at me.

"You can handle near-boiling temperatures," he said.

"I can generate near-volcanic temperatures if and when I find the need to." I shrugged. "I can handle hot stuff like this no problem." I sat down at the table and pulled my laptop out of my backpack and opened it up.

Stanford moved to sit down next to me, holding the mug in one six-fingered hand. "What sort of device is that? I've seen you make use of it a few times, but it didn't occur to me to ask before."

I blinked in surprise. I hadn't been expecting him to start asking questions, considering the reason that he happened to be in our dimension in the first place. "It's a computer. This specific type of computer is a laptop, because it's small and portable and it is possible to just…well, put it in your lap and work on it there from anywhere. They can get pretty warm, though."

"That is a computer." Stanford stared at me, then snorted and shook his head. "Impossible. There is no way that such a small device would be able to do anything that a computer is capable of."

"The year's going to be 2012."

Stanford stared at me blankly.

"When you get back," I added. "It'll be 2012. Right now, in this dimension, it's 2016. You've been gone from your dimension for thirty years. Don't you think that it would be possible that technology would have advanced in that amount of time?"

"Well, er – yes, I _suppose,_ but it's impossible that computers would be capable of becoming that compact, much less be accessible in the home for average people to use!"

"Obviously, you didn't hear about Steve Jobs," I muttered. When Stanford shot me a confused look, I explained, "He and a buddy of his made and sold personal computers out of their garage. They kinda started off the whole thing. Their company, Apple, is all over the technological market now, with phones, touch screen tablets, _and_ watches that can interact with them. Jobs died of cancer a few years ago, but the company he left behind is still going pretty strong."

Stanford's eyes widened at that. "Made computers in his _garage?"_

"Yup. In Pao Alto, California."

Stanford actually winced at that. I frowned in confusion for a moment before I remembered why.

"Oh, yeah…Fiddleford was working on something like that when you called him up." I winced, remembering that there were some uneasy memories attached to that name – mostly revolving around the portal. "Sorry about—"

"It's fine." Stanford shook his head. "It's just…I hadn't thought that something like this would become so easily accessible." He nodded to the laptop. "What is it that you're intending to work on?" He took a sip from his mug of hot chocolate.

"More like what errors am I intending to correct," I responded, pulling up Tumblr on the monitor. "I've probably got – huh. Only 5 asks? I would have thought that post would have gotten me more attention that that. I'll have to check on the reblogs and see what kinds of things people are saying on there, then."

"This is concerning my presence?" Stanford guessed.

"Yeah." I nodded a little. "Like I said earlier, though, I don't intend to answer too many of them. I can probably just leave them alone for a couple days and everyone will think that I deleted the asks or something like that." My nose scrunched up a little bit. "I'd rather not think about that right now, though. Especially not after…." I shook my head, refusing to think about the nightmare that I'd just had. "I need some music to take my mind off this."

I switched over from Tumblr to YouTube and, after considering my options for a moment, pulled up an audio recording of a song that I'd run into earlier that year. Strings started playing an interesting rhythm before a piano stepped in for the first few opening beats.

 _"This is an anthem for the homesick…"_

I grabbed my mug and took another swig of hot chocolate, sighing a little as the liquid slipped down my throat. "There we go." I closed my eyes for a moment as I listened to the song, smiling a little and bobbing a little to the beat.

 _"A song for the heartsick, for the standbys,_

 _Living life in the shadow of a good-bye…."_

"I haven't heard this song before," Stanford commented, causing me to open my eyes.

"It's a recent one," I replied. "The group's got some pretty good tunes; I just happen to like this one the most because it resonates with me for some reason. I don't think it's a theme for me, but I do like it a lot."

"Theme?"

"A song that resonates with your soul somehow. There's a dimension that helps people find theirs – it's called Axiom Nexus. I've only been there once, but I'd kinda like to go back there again, see if I might have another theme that I've picked up." I smiled a little. "I'd kinda like to see how Max is doing, too. She's the one who helped me find my first theme."

Stanford hummed, sounding intrigued. "Do you think that I might have a theme?"

"Everyone does. It's just a matter of finding a song that fits some part of you somehow."

 _"I'll carry you home. No you're not alone…"_

Stanford hummed again. "Sounds like an interesting place. It's a shame that I haven't traveled there."

I hummed in response to that. "Yeah, I guess. I don't know how much of a break you would have gotten there, though – I only saw the carnival that they happen to play music at; I don't know what the rest of their dimension looks like, and I don't really need to go there in order to help solve any problems, so I probably shouldn't."

 _"You know we've all got battle scars…."_

"Considering my present position in the multiverse, I doubt that I'll ever have time for rest," Stanford commented. "This dimension…it is quite surprising how insistent you all are that I let my guard down."

"Well, there isn't anything happening here that could cause you to worry." I paused. "Well, nothing like what you've been facing already. It's pretty quiet here."

"Other than the Cybertronians you have on your back stoop."

I looked over at him at that, wondering if he was looking out the window into our backyard for a moment. When I saw that he wasn't – and that there weren't a pair of glowing blue optics outside our window – I nodded slightly and smirked. "Yeah, that's true. But any problems they have now are on their planet, not ours. Not unless Joshua ends up uncovering something that could end up getting attention attracted to Earth again, but I doubt that anything like that's going to happen anytime soon."

"Perhaps," Stanford agreed. He paused, considering something. "Two days ago, when we spoke with…Stanley, you stiffened when you heard mention of their plans for the day. Why?"

I sighed. Of course he was going to ask about that. "Sock Opera. It's the name of one of the episodes in the second season, before you show up. The kids…they found Fiddleford's prototype portable computer. Dipper spent a good deal of the episode trying to get into it while Mabel was attempting to put together a puppet show to impress someone – that girl had way too many crushes." I shook my head. "Anyway, Dipper… _may_ have inadvertently made a deal with Bill out of desperation to get a hint involving the laptop."

Stanford stiffened. "He _what?!"_

"Shh!" I pointed upstairs, trying to keep Stanford's voice down. "The kid didn't know what would happen; he managed to possess a sock puppet and warn Mabel about the monster in his body and she got Bill out before he could do any permanent damage. That was in the cartoon, though; I don't know whether or not Dipper would have accepted a deal from Bill in your universe if he already knows you're the author of the journals."

Stanford didn't look any less relaxed. "I need to speak with Stanley about this. Can you open another window?"

"I should think so, yeah." I got up from my chair and closed the laptop, causing the last few notes of the song to be cut off abruptly. I moved back from the table a little, took in a breath, and focused on Stanford's home dimension.

A flicker of blue hovered in the air in the kitchen for a moment, then bloomed open, turning into a flat, glassy surface that cleared up moments later…into the dark, cave-walled room that was the hidden basement.

And Stanley was sitting at a desk right in front of us, glaring at a machine readout and gnawing on the eraser of a pencil. He noticed the blue color and turned around; an expression of surprise showing up on his face.

 _"Has it been a week already for you guys?"_ Stanley asked.

"Just a day," I replied. "Almost two. Why? How long's it been for you?"

 _"Few hours; kids are in bed after all the running around they did today. Mabel's absolutely nuts about that puppet show she's been workin' on."_ Stanley grinned, an eager light in his eyes. _"You really should see the kid's work when you get back, Poindexter; she's a real genius."_

"As…interesting…as that would be, I'm a little more worried about Dipper," Stanford replied. "What's he been up to, other than this puppet show?"

 _"Dipper?"_ Stanley blinked a couple times. _"He's been goin' nuts over this rickety ol' computer he and Soos found a few days ago. Dunno where they got it, though, but they have been avoiding the woods for the last couple days. Can't complain about that."_ He frowned. _"He's trying to figure out who made it."_

Stanford paused at that, frowning.

 _"…hey, wasn't that Maria kid wearing different-colored armor before?"_

"I was," I replied. "But that was kinda a one-time thing. This is what I normally look like." I tapped my chest, smirking a little before letting that fade. "Say, Mr. Pines—"

 _"You can call me Stan, kid, I don't mind."_

I nodded a little. "Stan, do you remember what happened before Gideon stole the house?"

Stanford shot me an odd look at that.

 _"…how'd you know about that, kid?"_ Stan asked, frowning suspiciously.

"You're a cartoon in this dimension, but that's not important now." I waved off the odd look I was getting from both sides of the window. "You were sleeping right before Gideon managed to get the deed to the house, right? Do you remember what happened _while_ you were asleep?"

 _"While I was – wait."_ Stan frowned, tapping his chin. _"Vaguely. I remember what sounded like synthetic boy band music in my head, an' talkin ta Dipper about how anythin' can happen in dreams."_

"Do you remember anything yellow?" I pressed.

 _"Yellow? That's a weird question….I think so? There was this yellow triangle poppin' in an' out."_

Stanford stiffened.

"I said they met him in 'Dreamscapers,' I just didn't say _how,"_ I said to Stanford. I looked back at Stan. "That triangle is a dangerous being that wants to get into your dimension, and he'll do it by any means necessary. There's also a chance that he'll go after and possess Dipper in the next few days if he doesn't let up about that laptop."

Stan's eyes widened at that. _"Possess – not on my watch!"_ His eyes narrowed into a glare. _"What do we gotta do to prevent that from happenin'?"_

"That's the thing – I don't know if we can."

Stanford and Stan both stared at me.

"Certain events have to happen in such a way," I continued, ducking my head a little under their stares. "Dipper thinks that Bill Cipher is a being he can easily beat, and that isn't true. He's going to have to learn sometime that the triangle is dangerous, and simply telling him that is only going to make him actually do that. The place where the laptop was found? He was going out and trying to do research on Dr. Pines _on purpose,_ specifically after you told him to not go looking for things. He had a run-in with a shape-shifting monster in a bunker in the woods – that's where he found the laptop."

 _"He what?"_ Stan's eyes narrowed dangerously.

"The _Shapeshifter?!"_ Stanford repeated in alarm. "I thought that –"

"He broke out of one of the cyro tubes, but they managed to trick him into the other one," I replied. "The kids are okay, just horribly shaken up. I don't think they're ever going to go back there."

Stanford stared at me with an expression of amazement.

"So if we tell Dipper _not_ to make a deal with Cipher, he very well may end up doing it anyway, but at this point, I'm not entirely sure. But back to the point I was trying to make – there are certain parts of a world's story that _have_ to happen, no matter what. If you want the kids to know that Cipher is dangerous, they have to learn that for themselves. That being said, if you see Dipper acting in a way that he doesn't normally, or if you see something wrong with his eyes, either you or Mabel pull him into a tickle fest and everything should work out all right. Especially if Dipper is losing sleep over the laptop."

 _"…kid, are you sure it's a good idea to just let him do that?"_ Stan asked.

"I don't want to change the course of your world's story even more than I already have," I replied. "Just the fact that I'm getting involved with trying to get Dr. Pines home is already changing a lot; the fact that you know about the dangers of turning the portal on is another change, as well."

 _"Yeah. I didn't know about the invisible ink thing. Speaking of which – Poindexter! Next time you're going to give warnings to anybody, write it so that they can read it without having to go look for a damn blacklight!"_

Stanford looked affronted and was probably about to respond, but I jumped in before he could start up an argument.

"Considering that I know what Dr. Pines was going through at least somewhat and you don't, I'm going to let some of that slide since I think you'll remember he greeted you by pointing a crossbow in your face and then shining a flashlight in your eyes," I said quickly, getting a sharp look from Stanford.

 _"Yeah, he – wait."_ I could see the gears turning in Stan's head. _"The eyes thing. Did that triangle do something?"_

Stanford's expression hardened, and I got the feeling that he wasn't going to answer so easily.

"Let's just say that demon's got a close tie to everything that's happened in Gravity Falls since before the town was founded and leave it at that," I replied. "I'll leave everything else for Dr. Pines to say when he's ready." My mouth twitched a little. "We're planning on trying to get him home tomorrow for us, by the way. His device is finished and ready to go."

 _"Really?"_ Stan's expression brightened. _"That's great! That's gonna be in a few hours, right?"_

"That's the plan. It's probably going to be tomorrow morning for us, so I don't know if you're going to be awake at that time or not."

Stan waved me off. _"Meh, I'm used to staying up late most nights. That won't be a problem for me."_ He grinned. _"I'll see you in person in a few hours then, Ford."_

"That's the hope," I murmured to myself. "That's the hope."

 **Heh heh heh. Maria, you're changing events left and right. She is right, though - some events have to happen for the sake of a world's story, and she's not going to get anymore involved than getting Ford home if she can help it. And interesting experimentation with time between dimensions on top of that! No guarantee it's gonna remain consistent, though, especially if Ford's gonna get home before the end of the summer.**

 **I'll see you guys the next time I post with the next chapter!**


	36. Plan B

**What is this madness? TWO chapters this week?**

 **Since I'm sitting on a good twenty chapters between where I am and where you guys are, I thought that I'd up the ante on myself a little by posting more chapters more often. I want to get as much of this posted as possible because I want to get the story out to you guys! This sucker's a long one, anyway, so I have to do something in order to make sure that all of it gets out into the open.**

 **Shadescribe - True, Dipper and Mabel did have other lessons to learn fro that encounter! But Maria was mostly focused on the Bill issue at the time, and she knew that's what Ford would focus on the most.**

 **Anyway...here we go!**

 **Chapter 36 – Plan B**

 **Maria's POV**

We spent the rest of the night rather tensely going over Tumblr. I deleted most of the asks I got, just like I thought (the only one I did answer was that no, Stanford was not going to be getting a Tumblr anytime soon thank you very much).

When Dad came down a few hours after the sun had risen, he took one look at us and said, "Well, I guess it's time I cracked a few eggs to make a couple omelets! Ford, do you want some coffee?"

"As black as you can make it," Stanford replied.

"Done and done!"

Dad quickly busied himself around the kitchen as I grabbed the empty mugs from off the table and put them in the sink. I grabbed a couple fresh mugs as Dad started pouring fresh grounds into the coffee maker.

"Hey, Maria."

I blinked at the question and looked at Dad curiously.

"You've got those berries from that Pokémon world, right?"

"Some of them." I frowned. "Not very many, though. Why do you ask?"

"Do you have any of those ones that keep you awake?"

I blinked again at the question as Stanford watched us curiously. "Uh…the Chesto ones? I've got about five left, why do you ask?"

"Let's see what happens when we add one to coffee." Dad grinned at me.

"You store food in your subspace, as well?" Stanford asked as I pulled a cone-shaped, purplish-blue Berry out from behind my back and handed it over to Dad.

"Yeah." I shrugged. "Works well enough to keep them preserved. It's like time doesn't pass in there, or if it does, it's just really, really slow, so I can still use things like food. I just can't stick people or animals in there – like I'd want to do that anyway."

Dad nodded in agreement as he started crushing the Chesto Berry.

Stanford nodded as well. "Yes; I can imagine that your pocket dimension isn't made to handle live creatures of any sort very well, if it simply exists for storage." He paused, considering something. "If you have one, is it possible that others have one and simply aren't aware of it?"

"It's certainly possible." I shrugged. "I'm not sure how you'd be able to access it, though; the only reason I know about it is because Joshua managed to figure out how to get into his and sent me a file with the instructions on how to do it for mine." I tapped the side of my head. "It's pretty much instinctual at this point."

Stanford gained an odd look at that. "Hm. I will have to find a way into mine, then. If I can lighten the amount of items I have to carry on myself physically on a given day, then that would give me an advantage in a good number of situations that I might find myself in."

I nodded in agreement. "Joshua's definitely been using his. You should see all the mechanical parts he can hide away in there!"

"You two are both ridiculous," Dad declared as he started the coffee machine up. "I don't need that subspace, and I get everything done that I need to get done just fine."

"You're a history teacher, dad, not a mechanic or a World Jumper," I replied, rolling my eyes.

"True. But have you seen the amount of books I have to carry around on a given day?" Dad opened the refrigerator and pulled out a carton of eggs before grabbing a pan from one of the cupboards. "Now, what do you guys want in your omletes? I don't have ingredients from other dimensions unless Maria's willing to part with more of those Berries, but if she's running low I'd rather not."

"I still have plenty of the non-status healing ones, Dad," I replied. "Up in the double digits, even, so if you want to drop a Tomato Berry in one of them and try to surprise us, I'd be more than willing to give you one or two."

Dad grinned widely at that.

Stanford ended up declining the option of the other-worldly Berries, and I figured that I'd go along with it for now, so Dad just ended up making regular omelets with regular vegetables from our world.

The coffee finished as Dad was finishing up with the omelets, so I grabbed the two fresh mugs that I'd pulled out and grabbed the coffee pot.

"Maria, since when have you ever needed to drink coffee?" Dad asked with an amused expression as I started filling the mugs.

"Since I stayed up from about two in the morning," I replied dryly. "I need the energy boost. Also, if I'm going to blend in, I should probably start picking up the habit from somewhere, right?" I looked down at the mugs of coffee and blinked as I put the pot back. "Huh. So adding a Chesto berry turns coffee a dark purple. Who knew?" I took the mugs and handed one over to Stanford.

Stanford eyed the mix with a suspicious frown. "And what exactly are Chesto Berries capable of?"

"On the world they come from, they keep people awake or can wake them up if they've fallen asleep." I looked down at my own mug. "I think it'll increase the strength of the caffeine, but I'm not exactly sure by how much—"

Stanford took a swig of coffee before I could finish, causing me to stare at him with a wide eyed expression. His own eyes widened a moment later, and he looked at the mug with an expression of amazement.

"That's quite the kick!" Stanford took another sip of the coffee, now looking a lot more alert than he had been a second ago.

I looked down at my mug with a cautious expression for a moment, then took a sip of it myself. A moment later, I felt a rush of energy akin to absorbing a blast of fire from an opponent, and I grinned widely. "That's a pretty powerful kick, all right. Doesn't taste too bad, either." I took another sip as Dad came over to the table with our omelets.

"All right, now you're getting _me_ curious." Dad slipped back from the table and grabbed another mug as I settled down and started attacking my breakfast, Stanford doing the same beside me.

Dad let out a noise of surprise as I swallowed my first bite. "Man, that's strong! Maria, I'm glad you've only got a limited number of those, because it would be _too easy_ to get hooked to stuff like this."

I snorted. "I could very well plant a garden of Berries here somewhere if I knew the exact mixture of soil that the needed, and then you'd have a never-ending supply. As it is, I could probably just ask Pika to bring some over if I ever happen to invite him into our dimension, and then where would you be?"

"…probably drinking regular coffee and thinking that the rest of you are crazy."

Stanford made a sound that seemed like a chuckling snort. "Regular coffee does nothing for me."

I snorted. "I'd say that _no_ coffee does anything for me, but it looks like I've just been proven wrong." I swirled the mixture around in its mug, then downed another swig to chase down the half of the omelet that I'd managed to eat. "I guess this…'Chesto Special' will be a good pick-me-up if I ever happen to stay up for most of the night again. Which means I'll probably be planting Berry trees sometime anyway."

"These berries grow on _trees?"_

"Small ones, but yeah. They also grow _really_ fast in their home dimension's climate. Anywhere between 24 and…I want to say 72 hours? They can give some pretty huge crops, too, so it's really easy to get more than what you need if you keep a close eye on them." I chuckled. "I've gotten as many as twenty berries off one tree at once, which is actually pretty good in their universe. I don't know how much they'd end up growing if I planted trees here, though."

"Well, it's definitely something to look into," Dad said as he sat down next to me with his own breakfast. "So, today's the day then, huh? You're going to try to get Ford home this morning?"

"That's the plan," I replied, nodding.

"Think you'll be able to get through? This dimension hasn't given you a sign that you're needed there."

I paused at that statement as Stanford looked over with an odd expression. "Yeah…that's true…" I shook my head. "Still, I have to try and get him home. I don't just want to just rely on the unstable rift maker Dr. Pines has in his basement."

"And I would prefer it if we did not," Stanford agreed. "If there is a chance that our universes could be torn apart as a result of my own follies, I would rather not take that risk."

I nodded in agreement as Dad gained a wide-eyed expression.

"If _that's_ that case, I wonder where your counterpart in the cartoon was when he was brought back to his home dimension." Dad tapped his chin. "Hopefully, the dimension he left wasn't left in a bad situation as a result."

My eyebrows came together at the thought as Stanford frowned darkly.

"Let us go collect my things." Stanford stood up abruptly. "I don't want to be forced to wait for any longer than I already have."

I nodded in agreement, then stuffed the remains of the omelet in my mouth and dropped my plate and mug in the sink. "Yeah. Let's go."

The morning was a little cool, but considering that it was the middle of summer, it was still pretty warm in comparison to the September's mornings. Stanford didn't look uncomfortable in his black outfit under the morning sun, so I figured that the average human would be able to handle the morning heat a lot better than the afternoon heat.

Joshua was waiting for us outside of his lab's cave when we got there. He stepped aside, letting Stanford disappear into the lab for a moment in order to gather his weapons and other supplies that he happened to have on hand.

"Do you think you can do this?" Joshua asked, looking at me.

"I hope so," I replied.

Stanford adjusted the strap that kept his sci-fi bazooka attached to his back. "I'm prepared. Do you need to—"

"Opening a window and opening a portal seem to take about the same amount of time and the same amount of energy, so I should be able to get it open pretty easily," I replied. I cracked my knuckles, causing Joshua to wince a little as I started to focus on Stanford's dimension. "Okay. Come on, portal."

I narrowed my eyes in focus as I clenched my fists; red-white sparks flew off my knuckles as I focused on actually opening a portal, not just a window to Stanford's dimension. I could feel the energy welling up in me, boosted by the caffeine that I'd gotten into my system a few minutes ago.

I could feel the energy starting to make its way to my fingers so that I could summon the portal…but then it stopped right before it reached my fingertips. Instead of the portal forming, like I'd been expecting, only blue sparks shot from my knuckles before they died abruptly

"What the…." I frowned and tried to focus more of my energy into getting the portal opened, but the energy just _wouldn't_ go past the strange barrier that had popped up.

"What is it?" Joshua asked. I saw Stanford frowning out of the corner of my eye.

 _"Something_ is keeping me from forming a portal," I growled. "I can _feel_ the portal _trying_ to form – the energy's _right there –_ but it's not creating the gateway I need!" I growled as I tried to force more energy to actually open the portal, but all I got were more blue sparks, so I released the energy and dropped my hands with a deep frown forming on my face. "This hasn't happened before."

"Is this what would happen if you were told to open a portal when—"

I shook my head, cutting Stanford off. "No; it'd just open up into a window, like what happened when you asked. This is different, and it has me worried."

Stanford frowned at that.

"Try opening up a window," Joshua suggested. "If the portal won't open, then you should be able to gain access to the other dimension in that manner."

"It worked last night." I nodded. "We're going to need to let Stan know about this, anyway."

"Wait."

We looked over at Stanford.

"If you can't open a portal to my dimension, what chance is there of Stanley being able to open one into yours?" Stanford asked.

"He has a greater chance, actually," Joshua replied calmly. "Your machine was designed to force a rift between dimensions, no matter what stood in the way."

"Which, by the way, nuclear waste?" I raised an eyebrow. "Really?"

Stanford gained a darkened glare, causing me to flinch back a little.

"Considering that it is going to tear a rift in space and time, that means it will get past whatever block has been placed in Maria's way," Joshua continued. "Unfortunately, you will have to protect the rift as much as possible, but you will be able to return to your own dimension."

Stanford looked over at Joshua with a grim expression, then sighed irritably. "Very well."

"I'm gonna go ahead and open up a window to let Stan know, then," I said, starting to gather the energy I needed again.

Stanford gave another irritable sigh, but he gave a slight nod.

I snapped my fingers; the window opened a lot more easily than the portal that I'd been attempting to open a moment ago.

 _"Waa!"_ Stan nearly jumped out of the yellow armchair that he happened to be sitting in. _"Geez, you people pick the weirdest times and places to poke your heads in at me!"_

"Sorry, Stan," I replied with a sheepish expression and a shrug. "I guess the windows are just attracted to your location in your dimension for some reason."

Stan grunted, then frowned. _"Window? Wait, are you sayin' this isn't a portal?"_

"I tried to open one, but it didn't work – something's blocking my ability for some reason." I shrugged helplessly. "I can open windows into your dimension, but I won't be able to get Dr. Pines home."

Stan frowned at that. _"Blocked?"_ His eyes narrowed. _"You think that triangle thing you warned me about is able to do something with that?"_

I looked up at Stanford with an expectant expression. He shifted a little in response before sighing and shaking his head.

"It's certainly possible," Stanford admitted. "Cipher lives in the crawlspace between dimensions; he could sense any attempt to create a portal to another dimension – especially one that he wants to arrive in – and he could be capable of blocking it."

"He's starting to sound less like some kind of dream demon and more like an eldritch monster," I commented, frowning. "Like Cthulu or something."

 _"Nerd,"_ Stan muttered.

"Such monsters _are_ real, Stanley," Stanford said seriously. "I count myself lucky that I haven't met them face to face."

Stan blinked a couple times at that, raising an eyebrow. _"Uh-huh."_

"Existence of the Elder Gods aside, we have something else to discuss," Joshua spoke up. "Stanley. You're going to have to activate the Rift Maker in the basement. We are going to have to take the risk of a rift forming as the result of a portal being made between your dimension and ours."

 _"You're letting me actually turn on the doomsday machine,"_ Stan said flatly. _"You're serious."_

"It's our last resort, and it needs to be done," Joshua replied. "There is a chance that Maria could stabilize the portal some and decrease the chance of the rift forming, but the passageway has to be opened first."

"It'll be my first time doing something like that, but I'm willing to give it a try," I added.

 _"You're talking about this like you're going to be grabbing the portal, kid,"_ Stan noted, frowning.

"Which is what I probably will be doing." I rubbed the back of my head, somewhat sheepish. "I haven't had to stabilize a portal of any kind before, so a hands-on experience would probably be the best one for me."

Stan stared. _"Did you just make a pun, kid?"_

"That's besides the point," Joshua spoke up again. "Stanley. Activate the portal when you can, but be careful – a Rift Maker is going to cause problems with your dimension's sense of physics, especially in your area. You may attract attention that you don't want."

 _"Isn't that always a danger?"_

"Considering there's a chance that you're going to get arrested as a terrorist?" I asked flatly. "Yes."

Stanford shot me a look of alarm as Stan's eyes widened.

"Has Mabel's puppet show happened yet, or has it only been a few hours since I opened the window last?" I pressed.

Stan shook his head. _"Nah; it's two in the morning; the show's supposed to happen tomorrow."_

"Okay. There are gonna be a couple familiar guys in the audience, and after the puppet show, the kids are probably going to go looking for someone. There's a certain device that is going to be needed in order to drive them off, but the kids need to find the person who made the laptop in order to be able to get their hands on it." I paused, looking over at Stanford. "It's Dr. Pines former assistant."

 _"…as far as I know, my brother didn't have anybody to work with on that damn thing."_

Stanford winced, drawing Stan's attention.

"Let me ask you this: How do you think Old Man McGucket lost his head?" I responded. "The answer's far graver than you think."

Stanford shot me a look of alarm as Stan's eyebrows shot up.

 _"Wait, seriously? That kook? How?"_

"You'll find out," I replied. "There's graffiti around town that looks like eyes that have been crossed out; they're connected to it. So is Gideon's dad, actually, but I don't think the brat knows what his pop is up to."

Stan's eyes narrowed. _"Okay; got it. I'm gonna go turn that portal on now, then see about warning the kids about keeping an eye out for suspicious people. You guys just keep an eye out for the portal opening up, and we'll be golden."_

I felt a twinge run down my spine at Stan's choice of words. He probably wouldn't be saying that in about a month of his dimension's time.

 _"Whelp, guess I'll be seeing you in a bit, huh, Ford?"_ Stan grinned widely. _"Keep an eye on my brother until I can get this thing running, okay, kid? Don't want him running off after only just figuring out where he is."_

"You can count on us, Stan," Joshua replied, nodding.

Stan gave a thumbs-up, then rose up from the couch and stepped out of the room. I closed the window a moment later.

"Whelp, guess we're just going to have to wait," I commented, turning to look at Joshua and Stanford. "What are we going to do now, then? I doubt it would be a good idea for us to walk around town, considering that people have spotted you." I nodded to Stanford.

"I would rather not be seen in public by those who might have connections to Cipher, whether or not he is capable of entering our dimension," Stanford said, nodding.

"Which means that you're going to have to stay at Maria's house the next few days," Joshua commented, "or however long it is going to take for Stanley to open the portal. If your dimension is a few days behind ours, then it's going to take a good portion of our July for him to be able to reach you."

"Considering that he is so dead-set on it, I suppose that I don't have any other choice," Stanford replied grimly.

I rocked back and forth on my heels. "It won't be that bad. You could talk to Mom and Dad and the rest of us about the whole World Jumping thing and get more information on it. I'm sure that, if anyone who happens to be doing the same thing ends up in your dimension later, they'd appreciate any kind of information like that. Besides, there's five of us from this dimension who are active World Jumpers anyway, so you'd have a pretty good chance of finding information on not only dimensional travel, but other worlds you haven't been to, too."

Stanford raised an eyebrow. "Are you attempting to balance out the bad with an attempted bribe with knowledge?"

I ducked my head at that. "Well, it's not like…you're going to have much else that you can do while we're waiting for Stan…right?"

Stanford inclined his head at that. Then he sighed and scowled a little. "I suppose not. If you will give me the chance to speak with a Cybertronian of this dimension in a proper interview, I don't doubt that my stay here will be…less strenuous."

I looked up at him with a wide grin. "I'm sure that I can set something up!"

Joshua gained an amused expression. "As can I. Jolt was curious about speaking with you on technology from other dimensions."

"So he was," Stanford agreed, nodding. "Very well then. If you can arrange for a chance for me to speak with him, I will be willing to do so."

"I will get in contact with him, then." Joshua looked over at me. "Maria, maybe you should speak with our neighbor on the matter of privacy? You did mention that you were intending to speak with her."

I blinked at that, then remembered what had happened yesterday and nodded. "Yeah, right. I'll go take care of that now, then swing back around in a couple hours. Mom and Dad are going to want to know Dr. Pines is going to be here for a few more days, too, so we'll have to talk to them too."

"Yes, quite," Stanford agreed.

"Whelp, off to Kira's, then! I'll be back – and probably in a grumpier mood." I huffed, then turned and jogged out of Joshua's backyard and out to the street before heading to Kira's house.

 **Hmmm...Cipher really wants that rift to open up...and it goes ta show ya that World Jumpers aren't all-powerful when it comes to inter-dimensional travel - especially the inexperienced ones.**

 **And that ends this arc of the story! Next time I post, we're gonna start seeing two arcs happening in tandem - one for Matthew and Joshua, and one for Liz! I didn't skip out on these two because they're important to events that are going to be happening later.**

 **So, I'll see you next time!**


	37. Split Up and Cover More Ground

**I am 21 chapters ahead ladies and gents! 3 chapters into the second-to-last arc of this summer tour of Maria's, so I don't have too much longer to go before I get this finished! It's just a matter of finding the time to get it done.**

 **Shadescribe - He might have known about the attempt, or he could have planned ahead of time to make sure that Ford _had_ to use the Rift Maker in his basement in order to get back. No telling for sure at this point. And Maria is definitely NOT an exception to the whole "food chain" thing - she doesn't know everything there is to know about World Jumping yet, and I'd definitely count her as inexperienced at this point!**

 **Anyway, here comes the next chapter, which is actually a bit of an interlude!**

 **Chapter 37 – Split Up and Cover More Ground**

Liz came downstairs with wide eyes and clothes that looked like they'd been thrown on in a rush, as well as her purple backpack thrown over one shoulder. "Maria!"

Maria looked up from her laptop with an expression of confusion; Stanford glanced up as well, a borrowed pen in the midst of writing something down in a notebook.

"What is it?" Maria frowned.

Liz stopped short at the kitchen table and stared at her older sister in confusion. "You mean you didn't see it?"

"See what?" Maria paused, and her eyes widened. "Wait. Did you see a vision?"

Liz nodded vigorously as Stanford's eyes slowly widened. "Yeah, and it was pretty bad. Why didn't you see it?"

Maria shrugged in response, the metal plates of her armor shifting together. She'd taken to leaving the Light Refractor off more often than not now, most likely because it was summer and they weren't interacting with people beyond their neighborhood very much.

"What did you see?" Stanford asked, a curious tone in his voice.

"I-it was…" Liz shook her head. "Maria, I'm going to need your help."

"I'd love to, but my hands are tied." Maria nodded to Stanford. "I promised that I'd be here when Stanley opened the portal so that I could keep it stabilized. If I go with you out with whatever it is you saw, then I could end up missing it. Maybe Matthew could—"

"Actually, I've got a bit of a problem, too." The eldest of the Carlsdale siblings stepped into the room. "Joshua just called. He had the exact same vision I did about the Justice League world we were on last summer; I just called in to work to let them know that I'm going to be gone for a while."

Liz gritted her teeth. "Great. And I could really use some assistance on this nightmare."

"Well, I'd love to help, but the Justice League thing is pretty serious." Matthew frowned. "Considering that the war hasn't ended over there yet, there's got to be something going on."

"Well, what are you waiting for, then?" Maria rose from her chair sharply, slamming her hands on the table. "Get going! Go meet up with Joshua and get over there before it gets any worse!"

"Right!" Matthew started for the door. "I'll let them know you said hi!"

"And tell them that Wildfire and the others are doing okay and that Cybertron's back in business!" Maria called after him. She saw Matthew give a thumbs-up before he shut the front door behind him.

"I am not taking Collin with me," Liz announced. "That would be just asking for trouble."

"How much?" Maria responded, frowning.

"The world that's having the problem is an anime that he hasn't seen yet, and it's had war and deaths of important characters and lots and lots of people being hurt. Just because he got through that thing that happened at the end of May last year doesn't mean that he's going to do very well here, either." Liz held out her right hand.

 _Fwash!_

Stanford stiffened in surprise when the curved, blue blade appeared in Liz's hand, complete with a hand guard around her knuckles and what looked like a keychain dangling from the end with a dragon's head on it.

"So I guess that means I'm doing this one solo," Liz muttered. She stood in the kitchen stiffly, hands clenched against her sides.

Maria frowned and started to rise to her feet again. "Maybe I could—"

"No." Liz shook her head. "You said you've gotta stick around to help him get home." She nodded to Stanford, who was looking between them with an increasing frown on his forehead.

"You know, there might be a possibility that this world you are speaking of requires your touch more than Maria's," Stanford suggested, nodding between the two girls. "From what I have heard of World Jumpers, they are attracted to specific worlds for specific reasons. This might be yours."

Maria and Liz exchanged looks at that before looking back at Stanford with surprised expressions.

"…you know, you might actually have a point," Maria said. "Khrista – one of our neighbors – went to a world last summer that I didn't go to. She was probably needed there more than anywhere else."

"And she's disappeared again," Liz added, "so she's probably somewhere else, too."

Stanford nodded. "You see? This could very well be a world that Liz is capable of taking care of alone."

Maria's expression sobered up a little at the mention of Khrista's disappearing without a word to any of them, but she nodded. "Yeah. That could be possible."

Liz fidgeted, still holding onto her curved sword. "I don't know if I'm ready for that."

"Hey, if you're going somewhere you know, you're going to be able to find people that you can trust." Maria smiled encouragingly while Stanford's expression shifted a little at the word "trust." "If it's an anime you know, then you should be able to find people pretty easily."

"I hope so," Liz muttered under her breath. Her grip tightened on her sword. "How did you manage to do it?"

"Do what?"

"Survive." Liz motioned to Maria's armored body with the dangerous end of her sword. "After all this, you're still…you."

Maria paused at the question, then sighed and ran a hand through her hair. "I am and I'm not. I'm still me, but I'm not the me I was when I started World Jumping. And neither are you." Maria held up a hand as Liz opened her mouth to protest. "Don't deny it; you've been a lot more serious since the whole Cyrus Incident. I think that's only increased since you ran into Dad when he was younger and got apparently dunked in that mako stuff."

"He _was_ dunked, not _apparently_ dunked," Liz corrected.

"And I wasn't there, so I'll have to trust your word on that," Maria replied. "The point is, you went there by yourself and found allies that you could trust. You can do the same thing with the world that's connected to this anime. You've got experience, you've got abilities that will have your back when you need them, and you've got knowledge that there's something wrong and you're going there to fix it. So you'd better get going if you're going to be able to help get things back in balance."

Liz hesitated at that, then nodded and stepped back. "Okay. Let Mom and Dad know that I'm gone, okay?"

Maria gave a thumbs-up and nodded. "You got it, sis. See you when you get back!"

Liz nodded in response to that, then turned to face away from the table, Stanford, and Maria, before raising her sword and slashing down.

A circular, swirling blue portal formed as a result of the movement.

Stanford practically leapt out of his chair. "That's—"

"What a stable portal looks like," Maria finished, grinning. "Yours has got the color right, but not everything else."

Stanford shot Maria an annoyed look as Liz stepped towards the portal. She paused in front of it for a moment, steeling her shoulders.

Liz pushed her purple glasses as far up her nose as she could. "Okay. Here we go."

She stepped through the portal and disappeared from sight.

"Why didn't you ask her what specific world she was going to?" Stanford asked, frowning.

I didn't need to." Maria looked at where Liz had been standing for a moment longer, then looked over at Stanford. "There's only one anime that would make her react like that, and it's the one she knows backwards and forwards."

"What sort of world is it, then?" Stanford frowned, curious.

"You'd probably like the science they have there." Maria smirked a little. "Considering that alchemy is a real way to make a living for them."

 **Change in POV – Joshua**

"Hey! I got your text!"

Joshua looked up from his laptop as Matthew came sprinting across the lawn, his green electric guitar strapped to his back.

"You wanna hit this world with me, huh?" Matthew looked Joshua up and down as the Reploid closed his laptop and rose up from where he'd been sitting on the grass. "Got everything you need?"

"I believe so." Joshua nodded. "And you?"

Matthew patted the neck of his guitar and nodded. "Yeah. Just say the word and I can get a portal open there in no time."

Joshua nodded again. "Good. Let's go."

Matthew grinned, then made a motion with one hand like he was shooting out of a pistol – finger pointed, thumb up, the rest of his fingers clenched. A blue portal appeared in midair next to them a moment later. "All right. Time to figure out what's going on over there and see if we can do anything to help!" He motioned for Joshua to step through the portal first, then followed right on the Reploid's heels.

"Liz decided against coming with us?" Joshua inquired as they made their way through the blue tunnel between dimensions.

"She's got another world to take care of," Matthew replied. "Maria said she would, but she's gotta stick around because of Dr. Pines."

"Yes, I knew about that. Hopefully, that man will have the portal activated before the end of our summer, considering that Maria still wants to travel to Neo-Mobius again."

"She still might go regardless. She _is_ taking a year off like I did." Matthew shrugged. "Not sure if it's a good idea for her or not, but hey, it's her choice."

"True. However, you forget that there is a chance that she could get called away from her studies if she did go to college at the end of this summer. Waiting to see what could happen during the school year might be a better idea than just jumping straight into it and hoping that you won't fall behind."

Matthew gave Joshua an odd look. "Since when have you been thinking about stuff like that?"

"Since we all disappeared during the last few weeks of May and had to take more classes than normal this year as a result," Joshua replied. "I'm amazed that Maria didn't find herself bogged down by all the homework."

"She mentioned something about seven years of living experience and not getting to use a calculator for most of it." Matthew's expression shifted. "Apparently, she took that independent living class _as a refresher course_ , just for fun. She's starting to get a bit ridiculous."

Joshua paused in the middle of the tunnel, causing Matthew to stop as well. "Considering everything that we've been through, the portals, the inter-dimensional kidnappings, the transformations from organic to mechanical or into different species of animals entirely, I should think that you would be used to anything that might have been considered ridiculous by now."

Matthew frowned at that. "I'm not talking about _that_ kind of ridiculous. Maria _never_ liked taking any classes other than music before. She's just turning everything that I thought I knew about her on its head."

"That happens when you are forced to change so quickly and so drastically," Joshua replied. "We should keep moving. We don't want to keep them waiting longer more than we already have."

"Right." Matthew started forward again. "Still, though, you have to admit it's a little jarring."

"Maria suddenly gaining an interest in economics and being able to keep up with the sciences without so much as the smallest complaint? Yes, I do admit, it is somewhat surprising." Joshua shrugged. "Then again, I started making a lot of strange devices after what happened at the start of last summer, so who am I to say anything?"

Matthew snorted. "True. That _is_ a little weird." He looked up ahead of them. "Looks like we're coming to the end of this route. Remember, the Autobots and Decepticons on the other side aren't going to know you, even if you know them."

"If we're going to be able to surprise the Decepticons, then that's what I'm counting on," Joshua replied. His face hardened into a grim expression. "Let's go."

 **So this was a bit of an interlude chapter, and it's letting you guys know that I'm going to be tackling _two_ arcs at once! Matthew and Joshua on one end, and Liz on the other!**

 **I'll see you next time with the start of Liz's arc!**


	38. Fullmetal Alchemist Mashup, part 1

**Heh heh heh. I promised that you would be seeing Liz next, did I not?**

 **Shadescribe - Your guess was right! And we shall see Matt-and-Josh shenanigans soon enough - like I said, I'm going to be alternating their story back and forth with Liz's!**

 **And so, without further ado...let the chaos begin!**

 **Chapter 38 – Fullmetal Alchemist Mashup, part 1**

When Liz stepped out of the portal and into what looked like a forest, the last thing she had been expecting was seeing a man with golden hair and matching eyes looking over a figure who looked like his identical twin, were it not for his slightly darker hair and not-as-sharp chin.

The vision she'd had had focused on red eyes and glowing stones; it hadn't shown her people having _doubles._

"What the..." Liz looked between the two men in front of her, blinking in confusion and alarm.

The one with more bright golden hair looked over at Liz in surprise - or, more accurately, at the blue portal that was closing up behind her. "Well, this is certainly unexpected. Am I to assume that you are an alchemist?"

"Uh..." Liz gained an uneasy expression at the question, trying to control her nerves. "Yes and no?"

"It's not possible to be both an alchemist and not – you're either one or the other." The darker-haired man frowned.

"Well, I, uh, know a thing or two that…." Liz trailed off and shook her head. "It's nothing." She looked at the two men with a nervous expression.

 _Maria said I just had to find allies and I'd be okay. I think…I think I'll be okay? I just have to keep myself from fangirling…._

"My name's Liz Carlsdale," Liz said. "And you are…?"

"Van Hohenheim." The man with golden hair looked over at his more darkly-shaded counterpart, who had a subdued expression that made his face seem longer. "Which just so happens to be the name of...my friend here, surprisingly."

"It's just Hohenheim," the other man insisted with a shake of his head. "I have never been called Van."

Van Hohenheim looked a little unconvinced at that. Liz, on the other hand...

"You don't mean Hohenheim the _Light_ , do you?" Liz could feel a clenching sensation in her stomach as her feelings of nervousness and excitement mixed together. Something was definitely wrong here if the two of them were here together; she had to focus on that more than on the fact that she was standing in front of a _character_ from an _anime_ that she _really really liked_.

"You've heard of me?" Hohenheim gave Liz a surprised expression.

"O-only by word of mouth." Liz didn't want to say that she knew them because of works of fiction. Not yet, anyway. "But…it's impossible that _two_ Hohenheims could exist on the same world…there's definitely something wrong here."

The two Hohenheims exchanged looks when they heard this, raising eyebrows.

"It seems that you are aware of things that we are not," Van Hohenheim noted. He frowned. "Perhaps it would be wise if you told us what exactly you know and if you know what is taking place."

Liz hesitated. She had been wondering if she'd be able to keep her knowledge hidden as much as possible. However….

Liz exhaled as her nervous expression as her eyebrows came together, giving her an expression of determination, rather than worry or anger. "All right. I'm a World Jumper. I'm part of a group of people that go around trying to solve problems for other worlds that exist. I got a feeling that something wrong was going on here and came over to see if I could do anything to help fix that. I wasn't expecting to see the two of you together, though – as far as I know, alternate versions of people aren't supposed to be able to meet."

"World Jumper?" Van Hohenheim frowned. His counterpart gave him a curious look as he continued, "I think I heard a thing or two about that group once. I can't say that I've ever met one of their members in person, though."

"You are aware of people who are capable of what she is claiming?" Hohenheim asked in surprise.

"Only by word of mouth," Van replied. "I heard stories very early on from travelers who came in and out of...my home...on occasion."

"Really?" Liz's eyebrows shot up at that, surprised at the reference to Van Hohenheim's past. World Jumpers traveled to Xerxes? "Huh. I wonder what Maria might think of that..." She shook her head, getting her sister out of her mind. There were bigger things to worry about now. "What's happened here that's let you two to meet? What happened before you two ran into each other?"

The darker blond looked over at Liz, pausing for a moment before letting out a sigh. "The last thing I remember before finding myself face-to-face with Van was assisting Edward in returning to our world through the Gate – I should have died, but…."

Van Hohenheim gained a grim expression. "I should have died a week ago, as well."

Liz stiffened. "It's been a week since the Promised Day?" She frowned, nervousness flickering in her gaze. "Something's changed from what I knew...You wouldn't happen to still be a living Philosopher's Stone, would you?"

Van Hohenheim stiffened. Hohenheim the Light gained a look of shock.

"You're a _what?"_ the darker-haired counterpart asked.

"How do you know about that?" Van Hohenheim gripped Liz by her shoulders, locking his golden eyes with her blue ones.

"L-like I said, I've been watching your worlds," Liz repeated, a little thrown off by Van's reaction. "So I know about the Promised Day. And what happened that made you essentially immortal in the first place. You, too." She looked at Hohenheim the Light. "I know about Dante."

Van Hohenheim stumbled back a step while Hohenheim the Light paled. They stared at Liz, then exchanged wide-eyed looks with each other before looking back at her.

"You know, it might be a good idea if we did what my son has done to me so often," Van Hohenheim commented carefully. "Equivalent Exchange. You tell us what you know about us, and we will tell you about the situation as we know it right now."

Hohenheim the Light shot Van a look while Liz blinked a couple times.

"…yeah, I guess we could do that." Liz nodded a little. "Is there a place nearby where we could sit down? This is probably going to take a while."

That had to be an understatement, considering that Liz was about to spill out what she knew about the world she had arrived on. Considering who it was that she was talking to, there was a chance that they weren't going to believe a word of what she was saying.

Van motioned to two logs that were lying near what looked like a circle of ashes. Liz nodded in response and sat down on one of the logs, Van sitting next to her while Hohenheim the Light sat down on the other log.

Hopefully, what she had with her in her backpack would help.

"All right. I guess I'll start." Liz took in a breath. "The world where I come from has your two worlds as part of our works of fiction. Van Hohenheim, I know about you because of a book series." She swung her backpack off her shoulder and opened up the largest pocket, pulling out a thick-looking volume with a blond young man on the cover in a red coat. "This is just the first volume; I left most of my other ones at home because there were too many to carry around with me."

Van Hohenheim took the book carefully from Liz's hands and stared at the cover in surprise. _"Fullmetal Alchemist?_ But that's—"

"He's the main character, so he got the whole series named after him," Liz explained. "Same with the animated shows that were made that followed both of your worlds' events. I could recount some if you—"

"The fact that you knew what I am is proof enough," Van Hohenheim replied, raising his hands. "And that you seem to be familiar with the events of the Promised Day."

Hohenheim the Light frowned. "Promised Day...?"

Van Hohenheim waved off his counterpart's gaze. "It's not important now."

"Still, according to what I saw, I had been expecting you to..." Liz paused, then considered her next words carefully. "…to pass away in front of Trisha's grave. Not be out in the middle of a forest talking to your counterpart."

Van Hohenheim's expression shifted, becoming unreadable as Liz kept going.

"I know about Hohenheim the Light's backstory because I was able to watch it. I'm not exactly sure how to explain it, but we have a device at home that allows us to watch recorded, moving pictures."

"The…'animated shows' you mentioned?" Hohenheim the Light guessed.

Liz nodded. "Yeah." She paused. "You're…you're taking this a lot better than I'd thought that you would. The last group of people I told were from a game in my world didn't believe it until my dad and I started referencing events from them."

"After what we've seen and experienced, I doubt that there is much that could surprise us," Van Hohenheim responded honestly. "So, you are aware of us because we are fictional characters where you come from, then." He handed the book back over to Liz, who accepted it and hid it away in her backpack again. "If you were following my sons' actions, what does that mean for your knowledge of us?"

Liz gained an unhappy expression. "Well, I know about the Dwarf in the Flask and the experiments that were done with Dante."

The two men exchanged looks.

"Dwarf in the Flask?" Hohenheim the Light ventured.

"The first Homunculus," Van Hohenheim replied wearily. "And the cause of my present state." He frowned. "This Dante – who –"

Hohenheim the Light held up a hand, stopping his counterpart's question. "She...was a former love of mine. And the initial reason for the Philosopher Stone's existence...on my world."

Van Hohenheim sucked in a breath sharply.

"I know what you used it for, too," Liz spoke up.

Hohenheim the Light shuddered at that, causing Van to frown.

"Souls jumping from body to body for over four hundred years..." Hohenheim the Light shook his head. "I would have let this body die in peace were it not for her constant hunt to find a way to create a new Philosopher's Stone of her own. The last I saw of her, she was having the homunculus with Trisha's face banish me to what she referred to as 'the other side of the Gate' - an entirely different world where alchemy didn't work. I have to admit, I would like to believe that what I experienced - a possible other world with a group calling themselves the Thule Society - was nothing more than a dream. Unfortunately, I know for a fact that it is not."

Liz nodded slightly in response to that while Van Hohenheim's face paled.

"Your life is incredibly different from mine," Van Hohenheim said carefully, looking at his counterpart.

"I could say the same of you," Hohenheim the Light replied. He looked back at Liz. "I believe we now owe you an explanation as to what has occurred here, then."

Liz nodded in response.

Van Hohenheim shifted on his log a little. "Right now, we are in the forest outside of Central. I came here because I wanted some time to clear my head and...converse with the souls that remain in me on what it is that we should do, now that the Homunculus has been destroyed with his seven so-called 'children'. Alphonse and Edward are recovering in the hospital, and it is taking all of the military to make sure that my eldest remains in his room. I'm starting to wonder if I should call on that childhood friend of theirs to come up to Central to keep an eye on him."

Liz smirked, remembering the wrench-throwing blond that Edward had as an automail mechanic. That smirk faded a moment later, though. "How are they doing, anyway?"

"Alphonse has his body back, and is so thin that he's probably going to be in the hospital for at least two months while he recovers; I believe that he should be there for far longer than that, but it seems that the doctors here know what they are doing. Edward mentioned that he had been planning on getting rid of his alchemy in order to bring his brother back, but it seems that Truth took something else. What it was, Edward hasn't said."

Liz stiffened at that, startled at the sudden change in story. "What? He _still_ has his alchemy? But – but that's not how it's supposed to work! Truth takes Ed's alchemy for Al's body – there's no other way that could have possibly worked!"

"Well, that seems to be what has happened here," Van Hohenheim replied grimly. "Unfortunately, Edward hasn't given anyone any answers as to what Truth took – he even hasn't said anything to Alphonse, which is worrysome. I can't help but wonder if it has something to do with the appearance of myself here." He nodded to Hohenheim the Light.

Liz frowned, gritting her teeth a little out of worry. She gripped her backpack's fabric in her fingers hard enough to feel the edges of the books hiding inside, turning her knuckles white. "This doesn't sound like it has anything to do with glowing red eyes yet, but I bet that whoever happens to have those eyes is behind that." She pressed her lips tightly against each other. "Gah, this sounds like some stupid fanfiction that someone came up with."

"What?" Hohenheim the Light asked in confusion.

Liz shook her head. "Don't worry about it. It's nothing you should worry about."

"Young lady, you're saying that makes me think that it _is_ something we should worry about," Van Hohenheim replied seriously.

Liz growled a little. "Look, nothing that I know about this world right now is going to help us figure out what the problem is. There's a reason that the two of you are still alive and are in the same dimension, and I've gotta figure out what that reason is by taking in the facts and not relying on things from my world." She rubbed her head with a scowl on her face. "Which means that we have to figure out what's going on around here."

"Well, if that's the case, then it would be wise to go to Central, wouldn't it?"

Liz and Van Hohenheim looked over at Hohenheim the Light as he rose up off the log.

"After all, if we are capable of existing in the same place and time, who is to say that there are others who don't?" Hohenheim the Light added.

Van Hohenheim tapped his chin in thought at that, frowning slightly. "You do bring forward a good point. And if there are doubles of others, the two of us won't stand out as much." He looked over at Liz. "Well then, young lady, will you be accompanying us into the city?"

Liz leapt to her feet and threw her backpack back over her shoulders in one movement. "Yeah! Of course!" There was a bright, eager light shining in her eyes – almost as though there were sparklers hiding in them.

 _Your fangirl is showing, Liz,_ a voice in her head warned her. Since it wasn't First Aid, Liz decided to ignore it.

The two Hohenheims exchanged amused looks at Liz's reaction, then motioned for her to follow them as they started towards the trees. Liz quickly followed after them, barely catching sight of what looked like a city skyline in the distance.

Central City, Amestris.

A wide, eager grin broke out across Liz's face. The worry that had been keeping a hold of her senses when she'd first arrived in this dimension were starting to slip now as she realized that she was, in fact, in the middle of one of her most favorite worlds of all time. And with the largest characters that had ever set foot on this world to boot!

However, there was something strange going on, if there were _two_ Hohenheims instead of one in this dimension. The thought made Liz's grin fade somewhat.

 _I hope that whatever's wrong over here isn't going to be as bad as it was back in Final Fantasy VII._

 **Liz, you almost broke the fourth wall there. World Jumpers seem to be able do it on a regular basis, though, so I'll let that slide.**

 **I'll see you guys next time I post with the start of Matt's and Josh's arc!**


	39. TransformersJLA part 1

**Hi! I'm back with the next chapter - the start of the _other_ arc that's running at the same time as Liz's! We got Matthew and Joshua here, and they're gonna be running around with a familiar crowd!**

 **Shadescribe - Hehehehehehehe - that curveball was the point! :3 I like getting the jump on people with this stuff. This chapter's gonna be a bit of a shortie because it's gonna help to set the scene for later chapters, though.**

 **Here we go!**

 **Chapter 39 – Transformers/JLA, part 1**

When Matthew stepped out of the portal with Joshua, he blinked in confusion when he found himself standing in a familiar warehouse.

"Whoa. Talk about déjà vu," Matthew commented as Joshua stepped out of the portal after him. The swirling blue vortex closed up moments later. "It feels like we've stepped back in time."

Joshua made a hum of agreement. "It seems our arrival has gotten some attention."

Matthew looked back at Joshua, frowning. "What are you –" The he caught sight of the group of figures standing at the entrance to the warehouse, and his eyes widened before a grin crossed his face. "Hey! It's been a while!"

"Matthew?" There came a short laugh from the lanky, blank-haired teenager standing at the entrance, and he stepped into the warehouse. "It's been a few months, man! Where've you been?"

"Here and there." Matthew grinned and accepted a high-five from the teenager. "This is a buddy of mine, Joshua. He's like Maria, but a little different."

"Hey." The teenager held out a hand. "I'm Jack."

Joshua accepted the handshake, nodding slightly in response. "A friend of Maria's is a friend of mine." He slipped his hand out of Jack's grip. "What's happening here?"

Jack's expression shifted into a frown. "We've got a problem. The Decepticons are up to something, and we think that it might be involved in the reason that everything else has been so quiet lately."

"Quiet?" Matthew repeated as the rest of the group came over. "What do you mean? From what I saw, it looked like things were starting to escalate." He paused. "Or, maybe it's they will? I'll have to talk to Maria later about how those vision things work."

"Where _is_ Maria?" asked a certain teenage Japanese girl. "If you're here, then where did she—"

"Maria's keeping an eye on someone until he can find a way to get home," Joshua explained. "I suppose you could say that I came in her place. I'm Joshua."

Miko did a double-take at Joshua's words. "Whoa…." She looked him over, taking in his blue and gray armor before grinning. "That is so cool! So you're a Reploid like she is?"

"Yes." Joshua noticed that he was getting an interesting look from the fourth member of the group. "Ah. Hello, Nightwing."

The dark-haired young man wearing an equally-dark costume – except for the bright blue winged bird that was across his chest – blinked in response to Joshua's statement. "You know about us too, then?"

"I wouldn't be able to avoid hearing about you even if I tried," Joshua replied honestly. "As it is, there's no way that I intend to. Keeping up with your adventures is a favorite pastime of mine." He smirked. "I happen to prefer this dimension's iteration of the Justice League, actually."

Nightwing inclined his head at that. "I see." A small smirk made its way across Nightwing's face. "Then maybe you can help, if you know about us and our dimension." He gained a serious expression a moment later. "There are a number of villains who have been going quiet lately."

"Luthor?" Matthew guessed instantly. "If he's up to something like he was last time—"

"Actually, he's sworn off it, pretty much," spoke up a teenage boy with spiky hair that seemed to defy gravity. "I've been keeping up with the news, and we've been hacking into his computer systems pretty regularly. It's good practice and helps keep me on my toes." The boy adjusted his glasses and added, "Luthor's been concentrating mostly on keeping up with real world problems and trying to keep face after what happened when you were last here. Brainiac is with him, but he's pretty much a program trapped in an android body – he can't do anything with computer programming."

Joshua's eyes rose at that while Matthew nodded.

"Yeah, I remember that happening to Brainiac when we were here last." Matthew paused. "So, it's been the other guys, huh? What are they doing that could be getting in the way of the Cybertronians ending the war in this dimension?"

The group stared at Matthew at his comment.

"The way you said that." Raf frowned. "What do you know about the Autobots and Decepticons that we don't?"

Matthew gained something of a sheepish expression at the question. "My dimension has them, too. Their war ended last year, though, so we haven't been having problems with Decepticons trying to destroy the world or anything like that. They're rebuilding the planet now, actually, so I haven't been able to see Sparkseer for a while."

"You mean you got him out of your head?" Miko asked in surprise. "Dude! How?"

"As interesting as it would be to explain how exactly that was done and the mechanics behind it, we do have other things to worry about," Joshua spoke up. "Mainly when it comes to the issues that may be taking place here in this dimension." He looked over at Nightwing. "Where are the Autobots right now?"

"Hiding," Nightwing replied. "We were just coming here to get the kids and take them to their location. You're lucky that you showed up when you did; any later, and you would have missed us completely." He turned and motioned for them to follow him, then stepped out of the warehouse. Matthew, Joshua, and the others followed after him.

"Hey." Miko sided up next to Matthew. "If you have the Autobots on your world, is there a version of me there, too?"

"Yup." Matthew nodded. "And she acts exactly like you, too."

"Really?! Does that mean she's a Wrecker, too?"

"Yup. I don't think that you could ever _not_ be one." Matthew smirked a little as a wide grin crossed Miko's face. "Do you have the Apex Armor?"

Miko blinked at that, then scowled. "Well, yeah, but Ultra Magnus won't let me use it. Jerk."

"Convince him it's a part of your arsenal," Joshua said. "If you can convince him that you can and will be useful while having access to it, then there is a chance he will let you have it. Unless Bulkhead is capable of speaking for you and suggesting that you can get your hands on it."

A spark appeared in Miko's eyes at that, and she gave a quick nod. "Okay; got it!"

"So, how are we going to get to—" Matthew cut himself off when he saw what they were walking towards. "That's…a pretty big jet. Looks private, too."

"It's borrowed," Nightwing said casually. He started up the ramp that led into the private jet. "I'll be returning it to its rightful owner later; for now, we're going to be using it to get you to where the Autobots are located."

Matthew nodded as he and the rest of the group followed after him and into the main body of the luxury craft…

…where there was someone sitting in one of the seats already.

"Batman?" Jack asked in confusion and surprise.

The Dark Knight – who looked sorely out of place, sitting in the back of brightly-lit, friendly atmosphere of the jet and facing them – looked at the group with narrowed eyes as they filed into the body of the plane and sat down in the seats that were near the windows. Matthew, Joshua, Jack, Miko, and Raf didn't move to sit down as quickly as their costumed allies had, but they did start moving after a moment.

"Matthew."

Matthew paused at Batman's voice, and turned to look at the Dark Knight just before he sat down next to Jack near the front of the plane.

Batman nodded over in Joshua's direction, the Reploid having stopped himself from sitting down next to Raf. "Who's he?"

"My name is Joshua Langstrom." Joshua turned to look at Batman as the Dark Knight looked over in his direction. "I'm a family friend of Maria's and Matthew's, and a Reploid myself. I came because I wish to assist the Cybertronians here in not only ending their war, but also starting the recovery process without causing any more trouble than we had in our dimension."

"You know Cybertronians in your dimension." It wasn't a question.

"Yes. I am particularly close with one named Jolt; we've worked together on a number of projects during and after the war. I brought a few with me in my personal dimensional pocket of space; I thought they might be of some use."

The group stared at Joshua.

Matthew sighed and rolled his eyes. "Yes, subspace is a thing. No, I don't know if regular humans can use it, but the Autobots and Maria and Joshua definitely can."

"Since when?" Raf piped up.

"Since we came home from this dimension and jumped right into the war right around the time that the old base got demolished."

They stared at him again. The airplane jolted suddenly, then started to move. Matthew quickly sat down and buckled himself in so that he wouldn't be sent flying into Batman's seat at the back of the plane.

"So the war's really done in your dimension," Jack said as the plane gained speed before taking off. "What happened to Megatron?"

"He's reformed and helping out up there." Matthew nodded up a little to the ceiling, not really able to move much other than that as a result of the increased pressure of gravity that he was feeling while they climbed. "I don't think they let him leave the Hall of Records very much, though. The only time I've really heard of him leaving was a little bit ago, when Maria went to rescue Wildfire from some group of crazed terrorists hiding in Kaon."

"Wildfire? You mean Maria got her out of her head, too?" Miko piped up from behind them. "What's she like?"

"Like a more mature version of Maria, if you can believe it," Matthew replied. There was a dry tone in his voice, like he was amused by the idea. "I guess that comes from her being a gladiator or something like that for a few years."

"Whoa…that is so cool!" Miko's eyes sparked with excitement as the plane leveled out. "Do you think she exists in this dimension, too?"

"Maybe," Raf called over. "But I don't think we're going to actually be able to meet her unless she makes it to Earth. She could be somewhere else in the universe."

 _Or maybe dead,_ Matthew thought to himself grimly, exchanging looks across the aisle with Joshua.

Batman made a noise that sounded like he was trying to discreetly clear his throat at the back of the plane, and everyone turned in their seats to look back at him with curious – or serious – expressions.

"As two of us aren't completely aware of the situation here, I'll restate the reasons that you are being moved to a safe house to stay out of the public eye until further notice," Batman said. Matthew could feel the man's eyes on him. "As the war has gone public, there is a danger that some will find you useful in order to not only gain private information on the Autobots, but also as a way to gain some of their technology. MECH has already attempted that with Liaison Darby, and it is not going to be allowed to happen again."

"Mrs. Darby is a Liaison in this dimension?" Joshua asked. "Interesting. I am going to assume that she was given the position after a certain event that took place here?"

"Agent Fowler is in a coma and is presently hospitalized in a safe location," Nightwing explained, causing Matthew's eyes to widen. "Liaison Darby was the best candidate for taking his place, considering that she has been in direct with the Autobots and is a responsible adult."

"Which just means they wouldn't let me be the liaison because I'm not an adult, despite the fact that Optimus pretty much named me human Prime," Jack explained.

Matthew snorted while Joshua nodded slightly.

"Mom still goes to me for advice on things though," Jack added. "She just doesn't tell the big guys that she's using me as an advisor."

"Perhaps a wise decision, considering that they most likely see you as a reckless teenager who knows nearly nothing about the world and how it works," Joshua commented.

Jack nodded in agreement as Nightwing started speaking again.

"Liaison Darby had the Autobots move to a secret location overnight a few days ago, secret only to a few select people." Nightwing nodded to the people sitting in the plane. "We're the only ones outside of a few government agents who know where it is that the Autobots are presently located. Keep this close to your chest."

Matthew and Joshua nodded in response.

"How long will it take us to get there?" Matthew asked.

"What caused you to move in the first place is what I am more concerned about," Joshua remarked.

"It has a lot to do with villains who are doing more harm than good, even after what happened with Brainiac," Nightwing replied.

"We'll fill you in on the details when we reach the safe house," Batman said curtly. "A lot has happened."

Matthew frowned a little at that. "Considering we aren't in the warehouse talking about this? I'll have to agree. I just hope that things are okay with the Autobots themselves."

"Why do you say that?" Raf spoke up.

Matthew hesitated. "Is Optimus still around?"

The others looked at him in confusion.

"Yeah, he is now," Miko replied, blinking. "Why wouldn't he be?"

Matthew paused, then shook his head. "It's nothing. Don't worry about it."

Unbeknownst to him, Batman's eyes narrowed slightly. Something passed across his face, but it was gone in an instant.

The Dark Knight knew he would get the answers to his questions eventually.

 **What's this? The war's still going on here? Something certainly doesn't seem right...Fowler in a coma and...hmm...**

 **Next update's gonna be the next part of Liz's arc! I'll see you then!**


	40. Fullmetal Alchemist Mashup, part 2

**...I should post more chapters to get my inspiration moving faster. I'm _still_ twenty chapters ahead of you guys! And I haven't even gotten to the last arc yet! I'm getting close though. Just four-ish more chapters...**

 **Shadescribe - It's fine if you didn't get to review right away - studies are important, too! Midterms, huh? I'm not getting those until the first week of March. Hopefully I won't get buried under the workload - and I hope that you don't for anything that's coming up!**

 **I'm glad you liked that last update, too - so here's the next one!**

 **Chapter 40 – Fullmetal Alchemist Mashup, part 2: More Questions**

When Liz, Hohenheim the Light, and Van Hohenheim arrived at Central, it looked like there was _definitely_ something going on in the city.

"Do you have any idea what's going on?"

"It's like something that I don't remember happening happened!"

"What were those strange machines? O-or the…."

In all the confused conversations that were going on between inhabitants, it was easy for two identical men and a strange girl walking in the direction of the hospital to be ignored…

"Hohenheim?!"

Or, nearly ignored.

The two men and the teenage girl turned at the sound of an old woman's voice, and their eyes widened at once in surprise upon seeing who had called out.

Hohenheim the Light was too surprised to say a word.

"Granny Pinako?" Van Hohenheim blinked. "What are you doing here?"

"Winry and I decided to check in on the boys!" An old, short woman stomped over to them, the stiff ponytail that was sticking up off the top of her head bouncing a little with each step. "What I want to know is why there are two of you and why I have two sets of memories!"

" _Two_ sets?" Liz repeated with surprise and alarm, her eyes widening even further.

Pinako turned her attention to Liz and frowned. "And who are you supposed to be? I definitely don't remember seeing you around here before."

"My name is Liz," Liz replied, giving a slight nod in greeting. "I'm from…somewhere far away." She frowned. "What did you mean by two sets of memories?"

"You mean you haven't noticed?" Pinako frowned up at Liz. "I noticed it a few days ago. I remembered hearing something about an attack on the city involving flying machines and armored men with black growths of some kind, but that clearly hasn't happened here." She motioned to the city, which was undamaged and didn't have any sign of collapsed flying machines or the like.

Liz's frown deepened at that, her eyebrows coming together uneasily. She muttered something that vaguely sounded like "Thule Society," causing Hohenheim the Light to stiffen in alarm. She raised her voice. "But...that sounds impossible. People can't have two sets of memories. That just…that's not how it works."

"Perhaps it is connected to the reason that there are two of me," Van Hohenheim pointed out. "I wonder if my sons and Winry are being faced with a similar problem, as I don't have two sets of memories."

Hohenheim the Light gained a sobered expression at his double's comment. "Be glad that you do not."

"Winry has two sets of memories," Pinako replied. "That's the main reason that we came here - she was worried about Edward and Alphonse disappearing 'to the other side of the Gate.' You wouldn't happen to have any idea what she meant, would you?"

The two Hohenheims stiffened at once – Hohenehim the Light even more so than his double.

"They went _back_ after—" Hohenheim that Light made a half-choked noise of shock.

"Back?" Van Hohenheim turned to look at his counterpart.

"To the world on the other side of the gate – I told Ed to go back to our world and stay there; why would he—" Hohenheim the Light cut himself off, blinking for a moment, then shook his head and sighed. "That boy would have never listened to me anyway. I suppose that he had his own reasons for making that decision."

Pinako frowned at Hohenheim the light before nodding slowly. "Yes, he is extremely stubborn when it comes to that, you have to give him that. But that doesn't explain the fact that I can remember _that_ happening a week ago. Winry, too. No matter how much we've tried to force it out of our minds, it's still hovering in the back somewhere. I'm half wondering if she came here for comfort from Edward from that maelstrom we experienced."

Van Hohenheim's expression shifted to a much more grim one as he looked at some of the buildings around them. "Believe me when I say that the entire country is experiencing that pain. It's just that some people have better ways of...coping...than others."

Liz frowned at that, wondering what exactly it was that he meant.

Pinako snorted. "I don't doubt it! For now, let's just go to the hotel so that we can talk this over and figure out what is going on and whether or not you two can do something to fix it." She looked over at Liz. "I am curious as to how you got mixed up in all this as well, young lady. These two men are not someone that you should be traveling with without a reason – that much is clear from _all_ my memories."

Liz nodded a little in response. "Yeah; I know."

Pinako nudged her glasses down her nose a little and eyes Liz with a frown. "Hmm." She pushed her glasses back up. "Well, I certainly hope you do, because otherwise you are going to be in for quite the surprise – especially considering what's happened in Amestris recently." She motioned for them to follow her, then started to make her way down the street – no doubt towards the hotel that she had mentioned a moment before.

The Hohenheims exchanged glances with Liz before following after the old woman, making their way past people who were out in the streets and talking to each other with concern and worry about the strange flying machines that they'd thought they'd seen in the sky at the same time that they'd been sucked into the maelstrom.

Liz bit her lower lip a little as she heard snippets of the conversations as she passed; the people of Amestris were worried and confused, and so was she. This wasn't something that she thought could ever happen.

The _Brotherhood_ and 2003 anime together in one world? With people remembering _both_ and there being _two_ Hohenheims? If this didn't spell trouble, Liz didn't know what did.

On top of that…what if there were doubles of _other_ important people in Amestris?

Liz's eyebrows came together in a frown as she gripped the straps of her backpack. _Whatever is going on here, I know that I'm going to get to the bottom of it. I've found people I can trust – allies, just like Maria said. Now I've just gotta figure out how to fix everything._

 _If I_ can _fix everything._

 **Time Break**

The hotel room that Pinako had rented out for her and Winry's stay in Central was one of the smaller, less expensive ones that was further out.

"I know it isn't much, but Winry and I didn't want us to get too much attention when we got here," Pinako explained as the two Hohenheims sat down on a rather worn-out couch. "I've lived in worse spots, anyway." She turned to look at Liz, who had remained closer to the door than the rest of them. "Now, then. Liz, was it? What's your reason for coming into Amestris and how do you know what kind of trouble Hohenheim can get himself into?"

"I have traveled outside of the country before," Van Hohenheim spoke up quickly. "Elizabeth and I met in a country far from here, and it seems that I made some sort of impression, as she's come here to see if there is anything that can be done about Amestris' current situation.

Liz jolted at Van Hohenheim's words. "H-hey, I said my name was Liz, not—"

"It is quite easy to guess what your full name is from what you are called," Van Hohenheim replied with a slight twinkle in his eye. "Did you really expect that you could keep that hidden?"

Liz scowled at that. "I happen to _like_ my nickname, thank you very much. So don't call me Elizabeth."

Van Hohenheim held up his hands in a loose, placating manner, a small smile on his face. "All right, all right." He lowered his hands and looked over at Pinako, gaining a more serious expression. "Considering the confusion that was no doubt already taking place as a result of what happened here last week, gaining two sets of memories as you cay you have is certainly worrysome."

"Does that mean you know something about it or you know nothing about it?" Pinako responded, hands on her hips.

"The latter, unfortunately. This isn't something that I'm aware could actually take place, much less ever happened in recorded history."

Hohenheim the Light nodded in agreement when Pinako looked over at him. "I may have been alive for…quite some time, but that does not mean that I've seen occurrences such as this before."

"I haven't seen anything like this, either," Liz added, causing the other three to look over at her. "And I've seen a lot of different things happen. Getting two sets of memories and having dimensional counterparts of people suddenly together in the same dimension probably shouldn't be possible."

"Dimension?" Pinako repeated. She frowned. "So you know something about this."

"Liz is presently studying the idea of other worlds existing," Van Hohenheim spoke up quickly. "And it seems that her theories are actually starting to sound more sound."

Liz blinked in surprise, not having expected Van Hohenheim to cover her abilities as a World Jumper like that, then shook it off and nodded. "Yeah. There are tons of other worlds exactly like this one out there, except that some things happened differently. Like there could be one where Xerxes _wasn't_ destroyed, o-or a dimension where the Homunculus didn't actually want to cause trouble when they were created."

Pinako snorted while the two Hohenheims exchanged worried looks at the idea. "If I was to say that I believed you, how could you explain what's going on, then? Two sets of memories, two cranky old men who don't know how to speak to their sons – it seems a little ridiculous and I'm wondering if one of _them_ might be a homunculus." She eyed the two blond men suspiciously as they exchanged looks of alarm at the idea.

"I don't think they're…that," Liz said carefully. "Especially because it's pretty clear to me that they're the exact same person, and it'd be a bit hard for someone to copy someone else exactly to the point that it's like they're thinking on the same wavelength." She shook her head. "This is…something else that I haven't seen before. And I'm not entirely sure what I'm going to be able to do in order to fix it."

"You think you can do something?" Pinako raised an eyebrow. "I find that a little difficult to believe, young lady."

Liz frowned at that. "You probably wouldn't be saying that if you knew what I've managed to do already. There have been people that I've managed to help before, and I'm planning on helping here, too. It's just that I have to find out what happened to cause all this before I'll know how to fix it."

Pinako frowned at that. She looked over at the two Hohenheims. "What do you think?"

Van Hohenheim and Hohenheim the Light exchanged looks.

"At this point in time, considering that there is no one else older than her in her field here at our disposal, I propose that we see what Liz can do in order to get to the bottom of our situation," Hohenheim the Light replied. "She knows more about what might be going on than we do; therefore, it make sense that we should pool together our resources in order to get to the bottom of this."

Pinako inclined her head at that. "Meaning that you know absolutely nothing, she knows something, and we need to go out there in order to find out what's going on."

The two Hohenheims ducked their heads in unison at that.

Liz rubbed the back of her head. "Well, I don't know if what I know will actually, help, but I'm definitely planning on helping to find out what caused all this to happen in the first place." She rubbed a couple fingers against the material of her backpack strap. "Which is probably going to mean going out and actually talking to people, because at this point I have no idea how you guys could remember both dimensions and how two Hohenheims can be in the same place at once."

"Would it be dangerous if the two of us remained close to each other?" Hohenheim the Light asked, frowning.

"I don't think so." Liz frowned a little. "I mean, my sister Maria said that she ran into a counterpart of herself last summer and everything turned okay, so it should be fine of you guys are nearby each other. Right now, though, I'm more worried about Edward and Alphonse. Either they're going to have two sets of memories, or there are going to be two versions of them, like with you two."

"It would more than likely be wise if we were to check in on them," Van Hohenheim agreed immediately. "Considering the chaos that has begun as a result of the memories, there is no doubt that they are getting more attention than the likely need right now."

"Coming from you, that's definitely saying something," Pinako commented dryly, getting a sheepish expression from them both. "And considering that, you two probably shouldn't be the ones to go over there and talk to him. I should think that he would still be angry over everything that you did, and with two of you, there's just more to punch."

The two Hohenheims winced at that.

"Now, how about we simply wait for Winry to come back from the hospital so that we can find out whether or not Ed and Al remember what happened?" Pinako raised an eyebrow at her three guests.

"Sounds good to me," Liz responded. "Especially since I don't know my way around this city _at all."_

"Well then, one of us should give you a tour later, after this whole thing with Edward is settled." Pinako gave the two Hohenheims a pointed look before looking back at Liz. "How about you tell me a little about yourself to pass the time?"

Liz blinked a couple times before giving a slight nod. "Y-yeah, sure. I don't mind doing that."

"Well then sit down! Don't look like you're going to run off at a moment's notice."

Liz ducked her head at Pinako's berating, then nodded a little and moved to a nearby armchair. "Okay. Where do you want me to start?"

"How about your family?" Pinako settled on the end of the bed and looked at Liz with a searing sort of expression – the kind where someone was trying to pick you apart in order to find your most hidden secrets. "You mentioned someone named Maria? Who is she?"

Liz hesitated. "My…my sister. She does the same stuff that I do. I would have brought her with me in order to help, but she's got some other stuff going on right now, so she couldn't come with me."

Pinako hummed at that. "So, she does the same things, hm? Must be a family business with you."

"I guess." Liz shrugged. "We're able to go farther than our parents did, though."

"Hm." Pinako inclined her head. "So, what do you think, then? About all this? You certainly don't seem to be asking too many questions about Amestris and how it works. If you're from outside the country, I'm amazed that you are able to speak our language so fluently!"

Liz jolted in alarm at that. _Uh oh._ "Uh…I chose Amestrian as a language to learn when I was younger?"

"Sounds like you're not quite so sure of yourself, young lady."

"Uh, w-well—"

 _SLAM!_

"Granny! Granny, are you—"

Liz turned her head sharply to look over at the door and blinked a couple times when she saw the blond-haired young woman standing in the doorway, looking frazzled. Standing barely out of sight behind her was another blond-haired figure in a red coat, although the face and eyes connected to it seemed younger, more youthful, than anyone Liz was used to seeing in a red coat.

Winry stared at the two Hohenheims sitting on the couch with an expression of alarm. "What the—"

The boy behind her quickly scrambled around her and entered the room, stared at the two Hohenheims, then lunged for Hohenheim the Light and grabbed him in a tight hug.

"Dad!"

 **Well, that's an abrupt ending if I ever saw one.**

 **Pinako's poking holes in Liz's cover pretty quickly! That comment about her knowing the language? World Jumpers passing through their portals are able to understand and be understood by those who happen to live in the region they arrive in. So yes, Liz is speaking Amestrian right now.**

 **I'm pretty interested in what could happen next, aren't you? Well, next time's gonna be Matt and Joshua again, so that might take a bit!**

 **I'll see you next time with the next chapter! (which might be sooner than we all think!)**


	41. Transformers JLA part 2

**What's this? THREE chapters in one week?**

 **Yes. Because I am working on Chapter 62 right now, and I'm almost done with the second-to-last arc of this tale, so I need to get you guys closer to The End than you already are.**

 **Like, way closer. So there's a _pretty_ high chance that I'm going to be posting at least two chapters a week in order to get you caught up. Maybe three; I'll have to see how things go.**

 _ **Anyway,**_ **no reviews from last chapter, so let's jump right on in!**

 **Chapter 41 – Transformers/JLA part 2**

The safe house (for the humans, at least) turned out to be an old summer home in the mountains that had been graciously donated by Bruce Wayne – Nightwing claimed it was without the man's knowledge, but Matthew and Joshua knew better than to believe that.

"An old nuclear shelter?" Joshua repeated as they left the more luxurious part of the house behind and went down into a secret corridor that had been hiding behind a bookshelf. "Considering that the Autobots' original base was an abandoned missile silo, I wonder if this was planned or is simply serendipitous irony."

"Probably the latter," Nightwing replied dryly, "although, one can never tell with Batman whether or not he is planning something for the sake of amusement or was completely serious the entire time."

"You got that right." Matthew nodded in agreement. "So, who are the guys who are causing all this trouble? I hope the Joker's not involved."

"He isn't at the top of things, but he has attempted on numerous occasions to either get a look at the Autobots or do something to hit them with his laughing gas," Nightwing replied. Batman turned his head and looked back as they continued down the stairs. "He didn't exactly realize that they don't need to breathe and aren't going to be affected like that by chemicals."

Matthew barely held back a snort of amusement; Joshua simply raised his eyebrows.

"I suppose he's staying out of things for the time being, then?" Joshua asked.

"If by that you mean we haven't heard from him and that's making some of us uneasy, but not as uneasy as what the other villains are up to."

Matthew and Joshua exchanged looks as they reached the bottom of the stairs and Batman opened the door that was at the bottom of the stairwell.

The room on the other side was large, spacious, and had computers lining most of the wall space. The fact that the giant robotic beings that were already in the room could stand upright – even the tallest of them, in cobalt and red armor and armor that was more blue-green respectively – was a testament to how much of the mountain had been hollowed out for this.

Jack made a beeline for a slender femme with blue armor as Miko let out a whoop and ran towards a round, green mech and a mostly-white mech, who turned as soon as they heard her call of delight.

"There's the little Wrecker!" Wheeljack grinned as he got down into a crouch as Miko approached him. "I was wondering when you were going to show up, kid! What took you so long, huh? Don't you people have Ground Bridges or something?"

"They're called Boom Tubes," Nightwing corrected. "And they don't exactly work well in enclosed spaces like this. I think some of us are considering installing one." He looked over at Batman, but the Dark Knight didn't give him an answer.

"And….say, who're those two kids over there?" Wheeljack nodded in Matthew's and Joshua's direction.

"Matthew?" the blue femme who Jack had run towards blinked in surprise as Raf made his way over to a black and yellow mech, who let out happy beeps and scooped the boy up in his hands. "Since when did you get here?"

"Not too long ago, actually," Matthew replied. He nodded to Joshua. "This is a friend of mine and Maria's; his name's Joshua, and he's a Reploid like my sister."

"Welcome, Joshua." The tall, red and cobalt mech who looked like he'd clearly had an upgrade knelt down to give the blue-armored Reploid a closer look. "You do not seem too surprised by our presence."

"Our dimension has Autobots that I have interacted with, Optimus," Joshua replied with a slight nod. "It's not so much that I could be surprised or amazed by your size as I am by the fact that the war has not found its end here yet."

"You mean it's _done_ in your dimension?" Arcee asked in surprise. "How?"

A red and white mech standing near one of the larger computer terminals snorted. "Impossible. How could the war be finished in your dimension when we are still fighting it?"

"It has a lot to do with the fact that we don't have the Justice League and a little to do with the fact that Shockwave wasn't able to follow through on reviving more Predacons."

The shelter fell silent.

Matthew turned slowly to look over at Joshua. "Are you serious? That's what _you_ saw?"

"Indeed." Joshua gave a slight nod. "The Decepticons have a small pod of Predacons in this dimension, while in ours they were all destroyed before they could be awoken by the Wreckers and Wildfire setting off an explosion in Shockwave's off-site lab. And that was only because Megatron had started to worry over Predaking taking over the Decepticons and wanting more power."

"Wildfire?" Ratchet came over. "You don't mean to tell me that she took over Maria's body _again_."

"She's actually in her own body again. Sparkseer, too." Matthew tapped the side of his head. "I'm not going to be getting any more insight from a mech stuck in my head."

"Dude! Why didn't you bring them with?!" Miko demanded. "I would have loved to see Wildfire in action! I bet she'd be a great Wrecker!"

"I'm a little lost," Wheeljack commented.

"Maria and Matthew had something happen to them as a result of something Vector Prime did," spoke up a silver and red, younger mech who happened to be nearby. "I don't know what he did, but he got Wildfire put in Maria's mind and Sparkseer put in Matthew's – you know, a couple of those gladiators who fought in Kaon and went neutral. Only, they joined the Autobots where they come from." He nodded to Matthew and Joshua. "How'd you guys get them out?"

"It's going to sound crazy, but with music."

Everyone stared at Matthew with blank expressions. He shrugged.

"I told you," Matthew said simply.

"Strange methods aside, we are here to assist, even if we are without any sort of mental assistance," Joshua said. "So, what is the situation, what else has prevented the war from ending here, and what can we do in order to ensure that the conflict ends?"

"You could have brought Wildfire and Sparkseer," Miko grumbled.

"We would have been exhausted from making a portal that large, then," Joshua responded. "And besides, it would have been even more difficult for us to come from the warehouse then if we had brought two Cybertronians with us."

Miko scowled at that while Optimus Prime nodded slightly.

"Pardon my asking, Optimus, but are these children truly capable of assisting us?" spoke up the other tall mech. "They do not seem to be capable of doing much."

"Matthew is capable of utilizing his aura, much like Sparkseer is capable of using the energy released from his Spark," Optimus replied, rising to his full height. "And, while I do not know of Joshua's capabilities, I can only surmise that he will be as useful as Maria was to our cause while she was here in our dimension."

Ultra Magnus blinked, appearing a little surprised at Optimus' statement. He quickly regained his composure. "I see. Very well then. If that is the case, then I look forward to seeing what exactly it is that they are capable of."

Matthew and Joshua exchanged looks at Ultra Magnus' comment. This guy didn't know yet what they were capable of and what had happened during the war in their dimension.

Things were going to be getting very interesting here very soon.

"Back to the task at hand." Ultra Magnus fixed his gaze on the two boys. "How aware are you of our present situation?"

"Just that you haven't been able to find an end to the war yet and that there are some people interfering with that," Matthew replied. He shot Joshua a look. "Although, apparently, there's now more Predacons running around on top of that."

Joshua shrugged.

Ultra Magnus inclined his head at Matthew's comment, optics narrowing slightly before he looked over at Optimus. When the leader of the Autobots gave a slight nod in response, he simply huffed and rolled his optics.

"As our situation is quite dire, it would be best that you were filled in on our situation as quickly as possible," Ratchet said grimly. "Lex Luthor and Brainiac may no longer be an issue, but that does not mean that we should be relaxed in any way or form."

Matthew and Joshua nodded in agreement at that.

"So, what villains are causing a problem?" Matthew asked.

"A group of mercenaries and other assorted villains that have been giving us trouble for the longest time," Nightwing muttered, scowling. "I'm sure that you've heard of some of them."

"Probably, but a line-up would be a good idea, since there are so many villains running around in this dimension." Matthew looked over at Batman, whose eyes narrowed. "So, how many is it and who's causing the most trouble?"

"Grog," Batman replied flatly.

Matthew winced. "Oh boy."

"The hyper-intelligent primate?" Joshua inclined his head. "Interesting. You didn't have any issues with him when you were here last, did you?"

"Nope. And I think I'm glad we didn't, considering how well Maria took Brainiac." Matthew paused. "Grog is another one of those guys who messes around with mind control a lot, right?"

"Unfortunately," Nightwing replied. "I doubt he would have gone for Maria."

"We won't know now, and I doubt that we'll ever want to know," Joshua replied. "Considering how badly she reacts whenever it's mentioned."

Matthew and the others in the room nodded in agreement.

"So, what's he done so far, what are the Decepticons up to, and where can we start helping?" Matthew asked, a frown crossing his face. "I'm not planning on simply standing by this time – I think Maria had the right idea in getting right into the middle of things."

"And how exactly do you plan on doing that?" Ratchet responded.

Matthew held up a hand, palm up. His eyebrow furrowed a little in concentration.

A small sphere of blue energy that almost seemed to burn like blue fire flickered into existence on his hand in that moment. The others shifted in surprise at the sight before the blue sphere faded from sight.

"I figured that, since Nightwing taught me a few tricks last time I was here, I could take it to the next level," Matthew replied with a smirk.

Miko squealed loudly. _"Dude!_ Do it! I'd _love_ to see you as a superhero!"

"Are you sure that you can handle what you're thinking about?" Nightwing asked, frowning. "You're planning on putting yourself up in front of super-powered villains that you've only heard about, and I doubt that you've really been able to fight anything on your own."

"Try saying that after going through _Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess_ and _Undertale_ at once in the same dimension," Matthew replied. "Defending myself while _also_ not killing anybody? That was a challenge. If I can't keep up here at first, then I'll figure out how to help elsewhere. For now, though, getting myself into the middle of things seems like the best bet."

"What are you going to call yourself?"

Everyone turned to look over at Batman, who had been watching the conversation with a guarded expression. Even now, his face didn't change, but there seemed to be something about it….

"Batman?" Nightwing blinked in surprise. "You're not serious…are you?"

Batman didn't answer, but if anyone knew him and had interacted with him long enough, they would have noticed that his expression shifted ever so slightly.

Matthew's eyebrows shot up, but then a confident grin crossed his face. "Aura Seeker. That's the name I choose."

The others turned sharply and stared at Matthew in surprise.

"And if I am to be referred to in any manner, I have been referred to as Spark by the Cybertronians – mostly to account to the abilities that I've picked up as a result of my interactions with Jolt and not for any other reason." Joshua held up a hand, and small, electric blue sparks of energy flew from his fingertips. "I am more than aware of the fact that the word 'spark' also refers to what we humans would call our souls, but the name has stuck with me for quite some time, and I doubt that it is going to be changed anytime soon."

Optimus gave a slight nod at that while the other Autobots looked startled. "If that is how it is in your dimension, I do not see a reason to change that."

"Don't tell me you're going to encourage them to get involved publically!" Ratchet exclaimed. "Maria was bad enough! There was publicity asking about her after she left for _weeks!_ "

"Well, now they're going to get some answers," Matthew replied, "since Maria's my sister and is presently helping someone get back to his home dimension before everything goes sour for him."

"Who is it?" A red-headed teenager in a yellow and red jumpsuit with lightning bolts zipped over. "Is it someone that we'd know?"

"Actually, you might know him, Wally," Joshua replied. "I do not know of the others, however."

Wally West – Kid Flash – turned to look at Joshua in surprise. "What do you mean?"

"On Reverse Cybertron, there was another human who was there for a time, correct?"

KF paused. "Yeah, but I didn't see much of him. Wasn't that the guy who shrank—" He paused. "Wait. Are you telling me _that guy_ is in your dimension right now?"

"His name's Stanford Pines, and yes, he is." Joshua nodded slightly. "His dimension is hanging in a particularly uneasy balance at this point in time; Maria is seeing if there is anything that she could possibly do in order to help things get settled, rather than get worse."

"Oh, man. That definitely explains why she didn't come over." KF paused, then shook his head. "Okay; that aside, are you guys really sure that you're up to this? I mean, you haven't been doing this hero-ing thing for long, have you?"

"Not as long as Maria," Matthew admitted, but I don't think that I'm going to have too much of a problem adjusting to it. I guess you could say that I've already started."

"And I never said that I was completely willing to be out in the field," Joshua added. "Spark is simply what you can _refer_ to me as while I'm here; I can support you with gadgets and other such things from the sidelines, so as to lighten your loads technologically, if you require it."

KF looked Joshua up and down. "We really need to get you to meet up with Gear, man." He looked over at Matthew. "If you're gonna keep up with us, though, you're going to need a lot more training before you can jump in."

"I know." Matthew shrugged a little. "This isn't something that I'm going to be able to master overnight; running around in Hyrule showed me that well enough. I'm willing to do what I can to help, though."

"If that's the case, then you'd better prepare for some intense training to get you caught up," Nightwing replied. A grin that didn't quite look friendly crossed his face. "I don't think that you're going to enjoy this."

"Believe me, I know," Matthew replied. "But it's gotta be done. You can fill me in on what's going on as we go with this, but I plan on being in as much of the action as I can this time."

Nightwing gave a curt nod in response. "All right then. Your training starts now, Seeker." His grin widened, becoming more of an odd eager look that made him appear to be at least a little sadistic.

Matthew knew from that one look that he was definitely going to be regretting this decision later. Much later.

 **More set-up for this world. We're going to have something...interesting...happening the next time that we see Matthew and Joshua.**

 **Next time I post, though, we're gonna be back with Liz and seeing her shenanigans! I hope to see you guys then!**


	42. Fullmetal Alchemist Mashup part 3

**First chapter of the week!**

 **Shadescribe - I think Joker wanted to know whether or not the giant mechas had pilots hiding in them or something. Not entirely sure, though. And of course Matt's not gonna enjoy the training he's gonna get; that's kinda expected for him. Poor fellow.**

 **Anyway, here's the next chapter!**

 **Chapter 42 – Fullmetal Alchemist Mashup, part 3**

"So let me get this straight." Winry pointed at the boy who was now sitting between the two Hohenheims. "That's Alphonse, but it's another version of him I remember from another _dimension?_ Possibly one from _the other side_ of some sort of Gate? And one of the Hohenheims came from there, too?"

"And your second copy of memories, don't forget that," Liz replied.

Winry groaned and grabbed at her hair. "This is giving me a headache. At least before I just had the two sets of memories to worry about; now there's more than one of the same people running around, too? _Great._ Ed's probably got a double somewhere, too."

"What makes you say that?" Pinako asked.

"He doesn't remember the flying machines."

Liz's eyebrows shot up at that while the two Hohenheims exchanged looks and Alphonse's eyebrows came together in a worried expression.

"Hm. It seems we have a missing Elric, then," Pinako noted. "He'll probably turn up eventually; for now, let's focus on the Elrics we have here." She looked over at the two Hohenheims and the blond boy sitting between them. "And how we're going to be able to tell them apart when we call them by name!"

Hohenheim the Light cleared his throat, one arm wrapped around behind Alphonse's shoulders. "If I may, we had been discussing that before Liz came upon us outside the city. Considering that my name _is_ simply Hohenheim Elric, I could be referred to as just 'Hohenheim'."

"And I would be Van," Van Hohenheim added.

"But I can still call you Dad if I want, right?" Alphonse looked up at Hohenheim.

Hohenheim chuckled a little and nodded. "Of course. I don't see any reason that you can't."

Alphonse nodded in response, smiling a little before he looked around the room again, the smile fading. "We should probably find my brother before he ends up causing trouble. If there's another version of me in the hospital with another version of my brother, then he's definitely going to cause some heads to turn."

Liz nodded in agreement. "There could be other people who have doubles, too – we should probably try to find them before everything gets even worse, on top of the memories that everyone's getting."

"What people do you think are going to have a copy of them running around, though?" Winry frowned. "It could be just the Elrics."

"I…" Liz rubbed the back of her head. "I honestly thought there was going to be another version of you. But since you've already said that you've got two sets of memories, there's no way that's possible."

 _Which is weird considering that Winry is Ed's girlfriend._

Winry blinked in surprise at that. "Two of _me?"_

"Because you're important to Ed and the world as a result." Liz shrugged a little, gaining a helpless expression. "Mustang and Riza might have doubles, too, but I don't know for sure unless I find them and ask them if they have two sets of memories."

Winry stared at Liz with an odd expression, causing the World Jumper to blink in confusion at the stare.

"What?" Liz frowned.

"I ran into them at the hospital," Winry said. "Mustang, he…he doesn't remember losing an eye, or the flying machines."

Pinako made a spluttering noise at that while Alphonse blinked in confusion.

"Wait – Mustang didn't lose an eye?" Alphonse asked while Van gained a startled expression.

"He went blind instead," Liz replied.

Alphonse jolted in alarm at that while Hohenheim stiffened.

"He's got his sight back, though," Winry spoke up. "Dr. Marco did something to give him his sight back. He's working on helping the people of Ishval to get their land back and restore them to how they're supposed to be."

"How?" Van asked, frowning. "I've been out of the city since…" He shook his head. "He shouldn't have been able to get his sight back from happened unless…." His eyes widened, and he shot Liz a look.

Liz bit her lower lip and nodded a little. "Yeah. Dr. Marco had one."

"Had one what?" Winry asked in confusion.

"A Philosopher's Stone," Liz said simply.

The room went silent at that.

"But that's dangerous!" Alphonse leapt to his feet. "Using a Philosopher's Stone could cause someone to go mad! Getting into contact with—"

"This world is a little different," Van spoke up suddenly. "Philosopher's Stones do not cause insanity here. A lust for power, perhaps, but that is common across all mankind, no matter what sort of power it is that they have access to."

Alphonse turned and looked at Van sharply. "But – but it's still dangerous!"

"I am not arguing with you on that; Dr. Marco no doubt is aware of it as well. But that does not mean that he has gone insane as a result of his contact with it." Van rose to his feet and put a hand on Alphonse's shoulder. "I know what I am talking about, young man."

Alphonse gained an uneasy expression at that, then frowned. "Do you really?"

Van gave a nod at the question while Winry and Pinako exchanged looks.

Liz drummed her fingers against the arm of her chair for a moment before she rose to her feet. "Waiting here isn't going to get this solved. I've gotta make my way over to the hospital or the military headquarters in order to figure out what's going on, but I'm not going to be able to get into either one of them probably because I'm not from around here and don't have any connections to anyone or any specific place."

"I'll go with you," Alphonse offered. "If my other self is in the hospital, I'd like to go over there and make sure that he's doing all right."

"I—"

"Van, if you go Ed is going to punch you into next year and you know it," Pinako spoke up shortly. "You are staying here or else."

"I'll go too." Winry moved over to stand in front of Liz. "I may not know anything about dimensions or other versions like you've been talking about, but if there's anything that I can do to help, I want to help."

Liz nodded. "I'm probably going to need all the help I can get right now." She gripped her backpack strap. "Let's get going; I don't want to let things get even worse than they already have."

Winry nodded in agreement, then looked over at Alphonse. "Come on – let's get over to the hospital. If Mustang's still there, then we can catch him and you can explain to him what's going on."

Liz barely held down the squeak of excitement as Winry opened the door to the hotel room and stepped out, followed by Alphonse and Liz.

"So, where are you from?" Alphonse asked Liz as they started to head for the front door of the hotel.

"A country across the sea," Liz replied. Amestris _was_ supposed to be somewhere in Europe; she wasn't exactly lying, since she was born in America.

"Across the sea?" Alphonse repeated in surprise. "That must've taken you a long time to get here, then! But how did you know that we were going to be having problems with this memory thing?"

"Uh…." Liz bit her lower lip, frowning. "That's…a little hard to explain."

"Try. I've seen all kinds of things that can't be explained; I bet that you wouldn't be able to go over my head."

Liz kept biting her lower lip. Winry and Alphonse both looked at her as they reached the lobby of the hotel and started to head out into the street. "It's…complicated. I don't know if I should even tall you guys even more than I already have. It could give us even more trouble."

"More trouble?" Winry turned and looked at Liz, frowning. "What kind of trouble are you talking about? In case you haven't noticed, everything's already going nuts. If you think that you're going to cause more trouble, then why'd you come here in the first place?"

"Because I'm supposed to," Liz replied. "I'm _supposed_ to help – I'm not about to just stand by and let things get worse!"

"If you're supposed to, then did someone send you?" Alphonse was frowning, now – the boy pulled at his gloves, eyeing Liz with an expression that seemed to say that he was planning to do something if things didn't quite turn out as they were supposed to.

Liz hesitated. She knew that Winry and Alphonse were important characters who had been privy to important information before, but she didn't want too many people knowing about her nature as a World Jumper just yet – the Hohenheims she couldn't get away with not telling because she had stopped out of a portal right in front of them.

But Winry and Alphonse? She didn't know how they were going to react if and when she ever mentioned that she had come from another world that _wasn't_ on the other side of the Gate as far as Liz knew.

Liz shook her head. "I wasn't sent by anybody, but I don't think I should talk about it now. Just…just know that I'm not from around here and I'm here because of the whole memory and dimensional doubles thing."

Alphonse and Winry exchanged looks at that, then looked back at Liz.

"What about Ed?" Winry asked. "Will you explain things to him?"

Liz jolted at that, still looking uncertain. "U-uh…maybe? He is pretty important to things around here…."

"We'll have to take that for now," Alphonse said, lowering his gloved hands. He looked over at Winry. "Let's get to the hospital."

Winry nodded in response, then started out of the lobby. Alphonse and Liz followed after her.

 **Time Break**

When the trio got to the hospital, there was a collection of cars and a small crowd of people standing in front of the entrance, talking amongst themselves and calling out familiar names in order to get someone's – _multiple_ someones' – attention.

Liz heard the names "Mustang" and "Hawkeye" called multiple times as they got close.

"Sounds like the military's here," Alphonse noted, blinking in surprise. "Do you think we'll have to sneak in through the back?"

Winry shook her head. "I don't think so; I can get us through."

"I can do that, too." Liz held her right hand out in front of her, summoning the curved sword that she'd used in order to create the portal that let her arrive in Amestris.

 _Fwash!_

"Whoa!" Alphonse moved back in surprise, staring at the sword and looking at Liz with an expression of amazement and shock. "Where did you – how – that didn't look like alchemy!"

"It's not," Liz replied simply. "Stay back, unless you want to get soaked."

Winry and Alphonse exchanged looks at Liz's statement, then moved back a couple steps from her, revealing an open path between herself and the crowd standing on the sidewalk a little bit ahead of them.

Liz held up her sword, gripping the handle with both hands and focusing on the people in front of her as some kind of energy started pulsing down the length of the sword.

"Come on, come on…" Liz's brow furrowed as she reached into herself and started pulling up energy. "Water Wave!"

Liz let go of the sword with one hand and spun, swinging the sword in the other. The pulsing blue energy that was on the blade suddenly burst off, turning into a wave of water as soon as it left the metal.

The water slammed into the crowd ahead of them, causing some people to get bowled over by the force of the water slamming into them as everyone in its path became soaked.

The crowd turned sharply and looked over at Liz as she straightened up, holding her sword at her side tightly in her grip.

"What was that?"

"Was that alchemy?"

"I don't see any alchemical circles anywhere."

"Look at that sword! That can't be Amestrian!"

"Those clothes…what does she think she's wearing?"

"She must be an outsider!"

"I want to talk to Roy Mustang and Riza Hawkeye!" Liz barked, trying to keep her composure as best she could. As it was, her voice was shaking, and her grip on her sword was tight enough that her knuckles were white.

Mentally, she thanked Maria for giving her some time over the last year to work some things out with her abilities, or else she wouldn't have had the stamina and the ability to improve quickly with her strange water ability so far that summer.

Four figures – two identical men and two identical women – moved through the soaked crowd and stepped out into the open, all four wearing soaked blue Amestrian military uniforms.

"What kind of alchemy was that?" the man without an eyepatch barked. "The humidity in the air didn't change at all!"

Liz shifted her grip on her sword a little. "That's not important right now."

"It is if you are capable of doing something without relying on the law of Equivalent Exchange," growled the man with the eyepatch.

"The power comes from _within_ me, okay? I was born with it – I'm not bound by the rules of alchemy."

The crowd started to murmur again, sounding uneasy at Liz's words while the four military figures exchanged looks.

"What's your name?" one of the women stepped forward, hawk-like eyes looking Liz over.

"Liz Carlsdale," Liz replied. "I need to speak with you in private." She let go of her sword, causing it to disappear in a flash of light. "Please. I'm here to help figure out what's going on with the two sets of memories and two sets of people problem that's going on right now."

The murmuring started getting louder at that; the military figures glanced back at the crowd with guarded expressions before looking back at Liz.

"All right." The man with both eyes looked back at Liz and nodded, then motioned for her to follow him. Liz, Winry, and Alphonse followed after him.

"If that wasn't alchemy, what was it?" Alphonse asked.

"My family's not exactly sure," Liz replied, keeping her voice low as she and the others passed by the crowd again. She eyed the soaked citizens with a cautious expression. "I used to say 'magic,' but it's not really quite that, either. It's just something I can do."

Winry and Alphonse exchanged looks at that.

"That seems a little far-fetched." Winry frowned. "Are you sure it's not alchemy?"

"Yup. And if you think _I'm_ weird, you should see my sister when she does her thing."

"Why?" Alphonse cocked his head to one side. "What can she do?"

Liz looked pointedly at the backs of the two identical men in front of them as they went inside the hospital. "Let's just say that she could give Mustang a run for his money."

Alphonse and Winry stared at Liz sharply as the two Mustangs looked back upon hearing Liz's words. The expression on both of their faces was the same: a curious glare that clearly hinted at the fact that the two of them had had more than enough to deal with that day and did not want to deal with anything else that Liz could possibly mention in that vein.

"I'm telling the truth," Liz hissed under her breath as they walked across the lobby of the hospital. "My sister has been called _Flare-Up_ for a reason."

The Mustang with one eye actually _paused_ for a moment, looking at Liz with a more surprised expression. "You're kidding."

"Sir?" one of the women spoke up, frowning.

"Flare-Up is _real?_ " The one-eyed Mustang turned and put his hands on Liz's shoulders, staring at her intently. "I thought that she was just a character in a novel."

"Maria's got a novel here?" Liz blinked in surprise; well this was unexpected. "Uh…yeah, she's real, since she's my older sister. I'd be a bit worried if she wasn't."

The one-eyed Mustang's eye widened at this.

"You know something about this?" his two-eyed counterpart asked, frowning.

"Something." The other Mustang kept his focus on Liz. "If you're here, then where's Flare-Up?"

"She's helping someone get back to where they're supposed to be," Liz replied. "She'd come and help, but…."

Oh, screw it. If this version of Mustang knew already, Liz might as well drop the charade.

"The portal that's opening up has to be from this guy's dimension, and it's gonna be unstable. Maria thinks she can stabilize it, but she doesn't know when it's going to open, so she stayed behind."

The majority of the group stared at Liz with incredulous expressions while the one-eyed Mustang's eye widened even further. "H-how did you get here?"

"Same way Maria usually does. She's not the only one who can do that."

"Could someone please fill me in on what's going on?" the two-eyed Mustang demanded.

His counterpart looked back at him with a determined expression. "We've got someone here who can help us figure out what's going on."

"We should probably talk to Ed and Al about what's going on," Liz spoke up, settling into a more serious, comfortable position. Now that the secret was at least partially out, it felt like her chest was a little lighter – especially since it was clear that at least one of the Mustangs knew who she was and how she'd managed to get to Amestris. "I don't think they should be left out of this, since it concerns them, too."

The group stared at her with slight frowns. Liz simply rolled her eyes and slid off her backpack before opening it and pulling out the first volume of the manga.

 _"Fullmetal Alchemist_ is a series of serious comics where I come from," Liz said. She opened the volume for a moment and paged through it, stopping at certain points while the others stared over her shoulders and down at the book in order to get a better look at what she was showing them. "And you're all characters who play parts within it." She closed the volume and slipped it back into her backpack, zipping it shut. "Everything that happens in this universe happens around the Elrics. Talking about this while they're in the room would be a good idea."

The group exchanged looks at that, appearing uncertain except for the one-eyed Mustang, who nodded.

"If it helps, I got here and two Hohenheims saw me as soon as I arrived," Liz added. "They're with Pinako in the hotel right now."

 _That_ definitely caught the others' attention.

Winry nodded in agreement. "Yeah, and they did seem to trust her…." She looked over at Liz.

"I think it'll be okay," Alphonse spoke up.

The two-eyed Mustang hesitated for a moment, then nodded. "All right; fine. We were going up there anyway to see if Ed and Al knew anything about what was going on. If you can help, then we're definitely going to need it." He motioned for the group to follow him, then started out of the lobby and deeper into the building. The rest of the group followed after him, Liz being corralled into the middle between the two Riza Hawkeyes.

Liz tightened her grip on her backpack and looked up at the two women, who didn't so much as glance back down at her. She sighed and relaxed a little.

Then she remembered that they were going to talk with the Fullmetal Alchemist, and she stiffened up again.

This was definitely going to be interesting.

 **Interesting indeed, little Liz. :3**

 **Next time's gonna be more of Matt and Joshua! I'll see you then!**


	43. Transformers JLA part 3

**I'm writing the last arc now. I'm two chapters in and it's looking to be longer than the rest of them, but I am almost done with this particular tale. Started fiddling with the next one, actually.**

 **Hoo boy.**

 **Shadescribe - well of course they would notice that Liz's power isn't alchemy! She didn't clap her hands or have any sort of visible honest-to-goodness transmutation lightning effect when she did that! And as for Maria...well, they would have to do some strange things to the story in order to make it more believable in Amestris, I would imagine, but yes, World Jumpers do sometimes end up in fictional works on occasion. :)**

 **Anyway, here we go! We've got us some Matt shenanigans this time!**

 **Chapter 43 – Transformers/JLA, part 3**

Matthew collapsed onto the couch that was in the Young Justice's living area and let out a sigh of relief as his aching muscles were finally given a chance to relax. "I may have played football when I was in high school, but you guys really drag me through the wringer over here. Feels like what boot camp _sounds_ like."

Conner Kent – known as Superboy – simply smirked and collapsed onto the couch next to him. "Well, considering that we're pretty much a small army, I don't think that any of us are expecting any less. You're just not used to it yet; trust me, it's gonna get easier."

"Not before it gets harder." Matthew sank a little deeper into the couch and sighed. "The last few days have been torture, but at least I've been able to keep up. Running around on those last two worlds I've been to certainly helped."

"You've been to other places since the last time you were around?" Conner raised an eyebrow.

"Yeah. They're video game worlds, though, so different levels of crazy active." Matthew smirked a little. "The last one had me doing a _lot_ of jumping around, since I was with Mario and Luigi. Got to be pretty nuts for a while there." He chuckled to himself.

"I think I've heard about those two." Conner frowned. "I don't play video games, though, so I don't know—"

"You met _the_ Mario Bros?" Bart Allen – back in his Impulse costume – zipped over and plopped down on the couch. "No way, man! That is so crash – those video games are awesome!"

"I know, right?" Matthew's smirk gained strength at the wide-eyed look he was getting from the speedster. "So I've had a lot of moving around recently because of those guys – Link, too, since he was on the world I went to earlier." His smirk dropped. "You guys are really pushing me to my limits, though."

"Well, you've got to be able to keep up, and since you don't have super speed—" Impulse zipped off the couch and around behind it, poking his head over Matthew's right shoulder. "You've gotta train in order to keep up at least a little bit with the others! Being a football player just makes it a little bit easier to work with your muscles."

"Yeah, I should think so." Matthew nodded a little.

"Nightwing's probably pushing you harder than he normally does," Conner commented. "Since you did offer to help and we don't know when Grog's going to try anything."

"Yeah. I guess I didn't know completely what I was getting into." Matthew gave a weak laugh. "At least it means that I know a few things outside of my powers. It should make things interesting so that I can catch people off-guard if I'm pulled into a fight."

As though to demonstrate, blue sparks flitted off Matthew's fingers as he let some of his Aura power trickle out.

Conner grinned. "Yeah, that stuff gets to be pretty explosive. I think that you'd give anybody a run for their money, and I'd definitely pay to see you knock any of our problems into next week."

"I'll make sure there's popcorn!" Impulse piped up.

Matthew snorted. "I'm glad you guys enjoy watching me blow up drones and get wide-eyed looks from the others, but there's no way that I'm at the level of popcorn yet."

"Oh, believe me, when you threw Nightwing into the wall and stared at him like some gaping mackerel, you reached that level." Conner's grin widened. "He's going to be coming after you for some surprise training sometime, and there's no way that you're going to be expecting it."

"At this point, I'm expecting him to wake me up at midnight and drag me out somewhere private to beat me black and blue," Matthew replied dryly. "And I can't say that I'm looking forward to that."

"Although that would be a good idea, that's not what I had in mind."

Conner, Bart, and Matthew all jumped at the sound of the familiar voice, and they turned to look at the figure standing behind the couch.

"When did you get there?!" Bart yelped, scrambling back from the young man who was now standing next to him.

"Just a little bit ago," Dick Grayson replied, smirking. He pulled his hands out of the pockets of his jacket and looked at Matthew with a more serious expression. "Batman wants to test you in the field tonight. Joshua and Gear have some new gadgets they want us to test, and we thought that, since you know Joshua, it might be a good idea if you came along."

Matthew blinked in surprise at that. "You serious?"

"Considering that it's pretty clear that you have a handle on your abilities on top of the fact that you are capable of keeping up with the training regimen…well, it had to happen sometime." Grayson shrugged. "We've got a few hours before sundown. I suggest you get a nap in, because we're planning on being out until 2 in the morning and there's no way that you're going to be prepared for running across rooftops at midnight. I don't care if you've pulled all-nighters before, you haven't pulled all-nighters with us."

With that said, Grayson turned and walked out of the recreation room without another word.

Conner, Matthew, and Bart watched him go before looking at each other.

"Whelp." Matthew heaved himself off the couch with a groan. "Sounds like I'd better go get some sleep before tonight."

"Good luck," Conner said. "And don't tick off The Bat. You're gonna hate what he can do in order to get even."

"From what I know about the guy, I hope to be the _last_ person on the planet to tick him off," Matthew replied. He shook his head. "I still don't get how Maria could look him in the eye and keep her emotions together until after he'd disappear to do something."

"She's younger than you, right?" Bart asked. "Just checking."

"Yeah, by a year. But she's been doing this for longer than I have, so I guess that she's got some experience in running around and keeping herself together." Matthew shrugged, then stretched his arms above his head. "Well, time to sleep. Gotta be ready for tonight."

"Don't let The Bat get to you," Conner suggested.

"I won't. If anything, I'll be thinking about the Decepticons and what they could possibly be up to." A frown crossed Matthew's face. "It can't be anything good."

 **Time Break**

Matthew was awoken at twilight by Nightwing gently shaking him awake.

"Mmm?" Matthew opened his eyes lazily, then was jolted awake the rest of the way by the sight of Nightwing standing over him in costume in the dark. "Wha—"

"Get your suit on," Nightwing said. "We're going." He pulled back from Matthew's borrowed bed and disappeared from sight.

Matthew scrambled to sit upright and winced as his aching muscles attempted to force him to stop moving with a flare of pain and aches. He shook his head, deciding to ignore them as he pushed himself off the bed and stumbled across the small, dark room to where he'd left his suit.

The suit itself was almost like regular clothing – Matthew could tell that he could take separate pieces of it and wear them on a regular day and no one would be the wiser – but it was made of some sort of durable, woven fabric that definitely didn't feel like anything that was commercialized and sold to the public yet. As he pulled on the black pants with the blue lightning stripes that ran up the sides, he half-wondered where exactly the design had come from and who in the world had managed to actually put the thing together.

Something at the back of his slowly-becoming-alert mind suggested that Bruce Wayne had had it put together in one of his factories as a private commission that no one else needed to know about.

It didn't take too long for Matthew to pull the costume on. He was pulling on the gloves that looked like they'd been taken from that _Lucario and the Mystery of Mew_ movie when Batman opened the door to his room with his usual dark, serious expression. His eyes narrowed slightly.

"Good. You're ready." Batman motioned for Matthew to follow him out of the room, then turned and stepped out into the hall without another word. Matthew was quick to follow after him, and stepped into the dimly-lit hallway without a word. The long-sleeved, black shirt he was wearing caught the light in certain places, seeming to spark with electric blue – especially in the eyes of the Lucario-like head silhouette that was on Matthew's chest.

The two made their way through the quiet base and reached the main debriefing area; Nightwing was already there, arms folded across his chest and his expression schooled into a serious one.

"You are aware of what we are doing?" Batman asked.

"Nightwing said we were testing a few things," Matthew replied. "I'm getting the feeling that there's more going on, though." His domino mask itched a little, but he refused to reach up and adjust its position on his face; he knew it was in its proper position _because_ it itched, and he'd get used to the feeling eventually.

Batman gave a slight nod. "Decepticons have been spotted on the outskirts of Metropolis. We are going to go in, slow them down and prevent them from succeeding in whatever they have planned, and get out. The Autobots are already preparing for an assault."

Matthew blinked a couple times in surprise at that, then nodded, a serious expression coming over his own face. "All right. Why do you need to bring me along?"

"You have experience with the Decepticons as a result of what has taken place on your world. If we come into a direct confrontation with them, we will have need of that knowledge." Batman activated a nearby Boom Tube, filling the room with a yellow glow that Matthew wasn't used to from short-distance portals. "Let's go."

Matthew, Batman, and Nightwing stepped through the swirling yellow portal and out into the cool night air on top of a skyscraper.

"Whoa!" Matthew blinked in amazement at the sudden change of scene, looking out over the skyline from where they stood on the roof. "This is…really high up."

"You get used to it," Nightwing replied. He grabbed a grappling hook from his belt as Batman did the same and shot it off to another skyscraper across the street. "We're going to have to share. I hope you don't mind."

"I'd feel better about it," Matthew replied. "Considering that I don't have anything like that yet."

"You will. Eventually. Just give Joshua and Gear a couple hours and a list of stuff you want." Nightwing motioned for Matthew to come over to the edge of the roof, then wrapped an arm around him and pulled him off the roof before shooting a grappling hook towards the next building.

Matthew tightened his grip on Nightwing's shoulder and grit his teeth as he felt his heart lurch at the sudden drop. Rollercoasters were _nothing_ compared to free-falling like this, that was certain.

They traveled across a good deal of Metropolis that way, moving around until they reached the edge of the park that was in the middle of the city.

In the midst of the trees, a tall, silver metallic giant stood, turning his head to look around slowly.

Matthew stiffened and stumbled at the edge of the park as they landed, trying to catch his balance while stumbling away from Nightwing with an expression of alarm. "That's – that's Megatron! What's he doing _in the middle of the city like this?_ "

"The Decepticons are more bold in our universe," Nightwing noted, raising an eyebrow at Matthew's reaction. "The Decepticons and the Autobots are very public figures now."

"But that means people could get hurt in the war," Matthew replied. "Are people panicking?"

"We've seen the world possibly end multiple times; I'd be surprised at this point that people aren't carrying around weapons to defend themselves from Mr. Freeze and Doomsday," Nightwing replied dryly.

"Doomsday has no weakness," Batman replied shortly. "And weapons like that are not only expensive but difficult to maintain. They have to rely on us."

"So, what now?" Matthew shot a look over at the large, silver Cybertronian standing in the middle of the park.

"We're going to find out what he's up to and see if we can stop it," Batman replied. His tone was curt. He started to step towards the park, his feet making hardly any noise against the sidewalk.

"I know that you are here." Megatron's voice rasped through the early night air, causing Nightwing, Batman, and Matthew to freeze. "Did you really think that your presence would not go unnoticed when my communications officer is tuned to the wavelengths of various portals, even if he is only capable of activating Ground Bridges. Come out, Planet Hopper."

Matthew stiffened further at that while Nightwing and Batman looked over at him sharply.

"I didn't think that Soundwave could _do_ that," Matthew said, startled. He shook his head. "Well, he knows I'm here now."

"We'll cover you," Nightwing said, causing Batman to shoot him a look. "Find out what he wants and get out."

Matthew nodded in response. "Yeah. Okay." He turned, then started into the park, moving quickly with even strides to where Megatron was standing near the middle of the park.

"Where are you?" Megatron rasped in a demanding tone.

"I'm coming!" Matthew barked back as he moved under the trees. "Just give me a second!"

Megatron turned his helm sharply at the sound of Matthew's voice. Matthew saw his red optics searching the trees as he approached the clearing that Megatron was standing in. He clenched his fists and moved even more quickly before finally breaking through the trees and entering the large clearing that Megatron was standing in, near the center of the park where a large, black monument with Superman's symbol had been placed.

Vaguely, Matthew remembered that it had once been an actual grave, where Doomsday had nearly killed the Kryptonian after arriving on the planet.

Megatron didn't get down into a crouch to get a closer look at Matthew, and Matthew didn't move any further than a few yards beyond the edge of the trees. "You are not the one I was expecting."

"If you're talking about my sister, she's busy," Matthew replied. "I came here last time with her; you just never met me."

Megatron inclined his helm slightly at that, red optics seeming to spark with interest. "What are you called, then?"

"This dimension is going to know me as Aura Seeker." Matthew stood a little straighter. "And we call ourselves _World Jumpers,_ not Planet Hoppers."

"The title which you call yourself in opposition to mine does not matter to me," Megatron replied shortly. "You are here for a reason. Tell me."

"You haven't finished the war yet, that's why." Matthew folded his arms across his chest. He could see blue aura starting to gather on his fingertips, then get sucked into the blue orbs on the backs of his gloves – probably something Joshua did as a way to store up energy, just in case.

"Then are you here to assist the Autobots? Or the Decepticons?" Megatron leaned down to look at Matthew, sneering.

"Does it matter?" Matthew responded. "No one's going to have a true victory at this point. If _you_ won, at what cost? You're definitely not going to be getting Cybertron back in this dimension, that's for sure."

"What makes you think that I won't be able to, boy?" Megatron snarled in response.

"The destroyed Omega Lock on Cybertron."

Megatron paused at Matthew's response, and his optics narrowed as he got down into a proper crouch and glared at Matthew. "How are you aware of that?"

"Do you really think this dimension is the only one with Cybertronians in it?" Matthew responded. He took in a breath and forced himself to calm down a little; he didn't want to lose his temper to the leader of the Decepticons. "The war has dragged on for long enough."

"In that we are in agreement." Megatron paused again. "Are you aware of how the war is supposed to end?"

"Maybe. I'm not sure how relevant it'd be to you, considering that everything's already gone to slag."

Megatron's optic ridges rose at Matthew's use of the Cybrtronian swear. He frowned a moment later, optics narrowing. "You are beginning to get on my nerves, human."

Matthew blinked at that, but then shook his head and gained a serious frown. "I thought I would have at the start. As it is, there's no way that you can let the war go on for longer than it already has."

"It will not. I intend to see to it that Optimus Prime dies on this planet and will never see Cybertron ever again." Megatron started to rise to his full height.

"You do that and Cybertron won't live ever again!"

Megatron paused. One of the trees behind Matthew's head rustled a little.

"Optimus knows where the AllSpark is, and Unicron _is_ still a threat whether you realize it or not." Matthew plowed on; Megatron might have a thick-plated head, but hopefully at least something would get through and make Megatron realize something. "You've got Dark Energon in you, right? That means he _can_ possess you if given the chance."

"And what makes you so certain that this will occur?" Megatron responded shortly.

"It happened in my dimension, I wouldn't be surprised if something caused it to happen here."

Megatron inclined his head at that. "You come from a dimension where we exist as well. Intriguing. And the war ended there."

Matthew took a slight step back, his arms moving into a slightly defensive position, just in case he had to throw an Aura Sphere in order to defend himself. "So what if it did? That doesn't matter as much here because it hasn't stopped yet."

"True. And I assume that events have played out far differently in your dimension."

Matthew gave a curt nod.

"What makes you so insistent that it end here, then?" Megatron's optics narrowed. "If this dimension is not your own, then you have no business interfering in our affairs."

"You said it yourself." Matthew focused more on Megatron's blood-red optics, as off-putting as they were. "I'm a Planet Hopper. We're _supposed_ to get involved in the events of other worlds and put them back into balance. What kind of person do you think I'd be if I didn't get involved and tried to help the situation get to be better?"

Megatron let out a low growl. "You should stay out of a war that you have no part in, child." He brought his face close to Matthew, causing the young man to step back again. "I doubt that you would be capable of keeping up with."

Matthew held one of his hands out, palm up, and summoned an Aura Sphere, causing Megatron's optics to widen sharply.

"Sparkseer is my partner," Matthew said. "I can keep up."

Megatron stared for a moment, then his optics narrowed. "So it seems. But this still does not tell me why you are so insistent that the war end."

"There are people who want to get involved. Don't trust them, let the Justice League take them and stick them in the slammer before they cause everything to get turned on its head," Matthew replied seriously. "Grog uses _mind control,_ just like Brainiac did. I wouldn't trust that guy."

"I am more than aware of his tendencies, but those are towards humans," Megatron pointed out. "I am not organic."

"He still thinks gorillas are on the top of the food chain, and he will take you down if given the chance." He paused. "And he may bring Predaking over to his side."

"You know of—"

"Maria faced him head-on on your ship and _lived._ He's using Starscream as a chewtoy, of course I know about him."

The trees rustled again. Matthew turned his head slightly at the sound. He looked back at Megatron. "Just think, for once. When has trusting humans ever been a good idea? MECH was a bad idea, Luthor was a bad idea, and I'm sure that whatever Grod could have in mind will be a bad idea, too."

Megatron made a snorting noise at that. "Do not think that I am about to trust your words, Planet Hopper. However, as you are aware of the existence of the Spark Reader, I will take your words into…hesitant consideration."

"That's all I ask," Matthew replied. He moved to step back, but then Megatron's hand came down behind his back, causing the teenager to bump into the metal digits.

"If your words prove to be false, I will find you and snuff out that which you call your soul without any hesitation," Megatron growled.

Matthew swallowed at that, then nodded slightly in response.

"It is good to see that we are in agreement." Megatron removed his hand and stood up to his full height. "Soundwave, a Ground Bridge."

A large, green portal with red and blue specs appeared next to the Decepticon; Matthew didn't jump at its sudden appearance.

"I shall be in touch," Megatron growled. Then he turned and stepped into the Ground Bridge, disappearing from sight.

 **Hoo boy. Matt's lucky that he wasn't squished...**

 **Next time's gonna be back with Liz again! Since we left her off in the hospital, I think you can guess as to who she's seeing next...heh heh.**


	44. Fullmetal Alchemist Mashup part 4

**Third chapter of the week. I'm _still_ 21 chapters ahead of you guys.**

 **Shadescribe - I'm glad that you think I nailed Megatron. And yup - that's who Liz is meeting this chapter! We're going to be having a bit of an interesting time coming up, that's for sure.**

 **Here we go!**

 **Chapter 44 – Fullmetal Alchemist Mashup, part 4**

Liz stepped into the hospital room with the two Mustangs, two Hawkeyes, Alphonse, and Winry. She had tried to prepare herself for seeing the shape that Al was in, but even what she had seen in the anime and manga wasn't enough.

The Mustang with the eyepatch and Alphonse didn't like the look of Al's skinny, emancipated body either.

The former Colonel sucked in a breath. "What the-"

"Gate," Mustang muttered, causing Roy's only eye to widen in surprise.

Al blinked in confusion at the number of people stepping into the room, then nudged his sleeping brother's form, which was lying halfway across his bed. "Um...Brother? You might want to see this."

Liz closed the door as the golden-haired alchemist raised his head.

"Huh? What is it, Al?" Golden eyes moved up, and the boy's entire body froze as a single tuft of hair went stiff. Moments later, Edward Elric was on his feet, glaring at the seven people who had just entered the room.

"Colonel, what the hell?!" Ed demanded. "Since when do you have a twin who lost an eye?! Why the hell are there two of you?! And who's this Al-imposter in my coat?! And the girl?!"

"It's a part of an on-going investigation that we're having done," Mustang responded, looking like he was trying to keep his composure. "Apparently, people all over Amestris are suffering from two different sets of memories, detailing different events. And if they don't have two sets, they get dopplegangers instead." He jabbed a thumb at Roy, who had regained his composure after Ed had started yelling. "This kid here-" Mustang pointed at Liz "-says she deals with stuff like this and thinks she can do something to help."

Ed looked skeptical at that. "Really? How can I be sure she's telling the truth?"

Liz summoned her sword right in the middle of the hospital room, causing everyone to stiffen suddenly and move to stand between her and Al. "Can normal people pull weapons out of thin air without using a Philosopher's Stone?"

Ed spluttered in disbelief. _"Without?_ Impossible!"

"I didn't see any red sparks, Brother," Al pointed out.

"That may be, but it still had to come from somewhere! There's no way that you can just pull things out of thin air like that without some form of equivalent exchange! It's just not right!"

Liz shrugged helplessly and let the sword dissolve in a flash of light. "I'm just as clueless about it as you are; all I know is that it's part of some kind of power that my siblings and I have. It's not connected to the reason that I'm here, though."

Ed shot Liz a look at that while the others blinked in confusion. "Oh, yeah? And why do you say that?"

"Because summoning a sword isn't the same thing as making a portal between worlds."

Everyone stared at Liz with blank expressions. Alphonse's eyes widened in disbelief while Ed snorted and shook his head, recovering from Liz's abrupt statement.

"A portal between worlds? There's no way that something like that ever could exist. Not unless…." Ed trailed off, looking uneasy suddenly.

"Liz?" Alphonse asked, hesitant. "Does that mean you can bypass the Gate?"

Roy – the former Colonel with the eyepatch – looked at Alphonse sharply at that before looking over at Liz.

"What are you talking about, copy?" Ed growled. "Bypass the Gate? What does that even mean?"

"On his world, there is a way to travel to a world that's almost identical to mine, but in a different time," Liz explained, looking over at Alphonse. "The thing is, though, people have to go through the Gate in order to travel between them. They got stuck on the other side of it and were probably going to grow up and eventually die there, but now they're here in _your_ world for some reason. I've gotta figure out why they're here, and why people are getting two sets of memories that coincide with both his world and yours."

"Colonel mentioned that," Ed said, frowning. He tapped his chin. "But I _don't_ have two sets of memories."

Winry sucked in a breath sharply at that while the Hawkeyes and Mustangs exchanged looks.

"Which just means your counterpart is somewhere on this world," Liz replied. "We're going to have to find him before he accidentally causes any trouble."

Ed snorted. "What makes you think I'm going to cause any trouble?"

"Elric," Mustang growled.

"Edward, you need to consider the fact that most of the people here – at least in Central City – now have access to two different sets of memories from the last week," Riza replied pointedly. "Some remember the flying machines that came from the other side of the Gate to attack us."

"Others remember the Promised Day," Hawkeye added darkly, getting a wince from Ed and Al while Alphonse gained an expression of confusion.

"Promised Day?" Alphonse repeated.

"It was—"

"You're saying you didn't go through that?" Ed asked in surprise.

"Different worlds have different timelines," Liz said with a shrug. "You can't expect everything to be the exact same."

"Next thing you'll be telling me is that _I_ was the one who ended up without a body," Ed muttered, scowling at Liz. "And who are you, anyway? You haven't given your name yet."

"I'm Liz."

"Well, _Liz_ , how the hell do you know what's going on here and what are you going to do in order to fix it?"

Liz hesitated at the question, feeling the golden eyes of three Elrics, the darker eyes of the Mustangs and the piercing gazes of the Hawkeyes and Winry digging into her. "I don't know yet." She gripped a backpack strap, fidgeting with it a little and digging her fingernails into the fabric. "I haven't seen anything like this before, and I don't think my sister has, either. Mostly it's problems that are happening _in_ the world _already_ that we try to solve, not…not a…." She frowned. "A merging, I guess?"

"Merging?" Ed repeated, blinking.

"Are you saying that our two worlds have gotten stuck together?" Alphonse asked. A worried expression came over his face. "But what about the Gate?"

"This better not mean what I think it means," Ed muttered, his eyes narrowing. "If there's some bastard who—"

"There'd be signs if there was," Mustang cut Ed off. "This has got to be something else besides what happened on the Promised Day."

Liz swallowed at that and nodded a little in agreement. "Yeah. I don't think that anyone with a Philosopher's Stone would be able to do something like this, even if they used an entire country."

Alphonse stiffened. "Who would—"

"Nobody you gotta worry about," Ed replied crisply. "He's been taken care of, and _nobody else is going to do the exact same thing,_ you get me?" He fixed Liz with a pointed look.

Liz nodded quickly. "Y-yeah. I definitely don't want to see that happening again."

"Good." Ed looked at the two Mustangs. "So one of you lost an eye, huh? How'd that happen?"

"That doesn't matter now," Roy replied shortly. "What matters is what's going on right now and what we can do about it. Liz, how exactly did you get here? You said that you're Maria's sister – that means that you can travel in the same way that she can, correct?"

"Maria?" Al repeated in confusion.

"My sister and a World Jumper, like me," Liz replied. "I can create portals between worlds." She rubbed the back of her head, feeling more than a little nervous at the looks she was getting. "…are you suggesting I try to make one to the world you came from? But what about the people with two sets of memories?"

Roy frowned at that. "We'll get to that later – try to make a gateway to out world for now and see if we can get back."

" _Now?"_

"Yes, now. Now get moving!"

Liz winced at the barking tone that Roy's voice had taken on, then stepped back from the others and summoned her sword again. "Okay. Let's see if this works." She closed an eye and started to focus on the power that she had as a result of what had happened to her parents all those years ago.

She could feel the power building and saw the blue sparks that was starting to come off the end of her sword, but then the power stopped abruptly, forcing the energy _back_ on Liz.

Liz let out a yelp as the blue, pulsing energy on her sword suddenly rushed back into her, causing her to get slammed back into the wall with a wince of pain and a groan.

"Kid!" Mustang moved over and helped Liz back to her feet. "Are you—"

"I-I'm okay." Liz shook her head as she got back to her feet. She rubbed her head with her left hand as her sword disappeared from her right. "I just…I wasn't expecting that to happen."

"What was that?" Winry asked, concerned.

"It…it felt like a power backlash." Liz frowned, gaining an uneasy expression.

Ed was next to her in an instant, grabbing her right arm. "Can't have been a rebound. You didn't get sucked into the Gate."

Liz jumped at Ed's sudden appearance next to her and pulled her arm out of his hands, shaking it out a little. "It _wasn't_ alchemy; I don't have to worry about getting sucked into the Gate and paying that price." She shook her head. "This was…something else."

"Something else?" Alphonse repeated.

Ed snorted. "How could it be something else? And that looked a lot like alchemy to me."

Liz gritted her teeth a little out of annoyance at Ed's comment. "You really think _this_ is alchemy?" She summoned her word again and held it high above her head before slashing downwards, blue sparks flying.

A blue, circular, swirling portal appeared in the middle of the room, causing the others to jump back in alarm, clearly off-guard.

Liz moved closer to it. "Maria? Dr. Pines? Are you there?"

There wasn't an answer for a moment, but then two heads poked through the portal.

"What's going on?" Maria asked, frowning. Stanford simply blinked in confusion upon seeing the world that Liz was standing in. "You know I can't help out right now because of that—"

"I know. But there's a bigger problem here than I'd thought; maybe you guys cane help me figure out what's going on."

"What sort of problem?" Stanford frowned; he pushed his glasses up. "And what sort of people are you with? They look like—"

"They're friendly, Dr. Pines; it's okay," Maria reassured him. She looked at the group and frowned. "Although, it _is_ a little weird that there are doubles of Mustang and Hawkeye."

"There are doubles of Hohenheim, too; he's back at the hotel," Liz explained, causing Ed to look at her sharply.

"There's _two_ versions of that bastard?!" Ed barked.

"Language," Maria muttered under her breath.

"There are people with two sets of memories, too." Liz nodded to Winry, who was staring at the open portal in shock. "There's only one of Winry, and she remembers what happened in both versions."

"I think I might have heard of something like this."

Maria looked over at Stanford with an expression of confusion and surprise. "You have?"

Stanford nodded, a frown crossing his face.

"And who are you, exactly?" Ed asked slowly.

"My name is Stanford Pines; I am…a dimensional traveler, of sorts." Stanford hesitated. "There have been rumors circulating recently of worlds merging together, but none of the worlds that I have been to have been placed in that very situation. It seems that your worlds have been brought together, however."

"How does _that_ work?" Maria frowned. "You'd think that something like that would be extremely unstable and everything would collapse though…wouldn't it?"

The grim pale expressions she got back at that caused Maria's mouth to become a straight line.

"Just trying to consider every option," Maria said.

"That could be a possibility, but it seems that these worlds were similar _enough_ that they were able to merge without any difficulty." Stanford nodded to the Mustangs, Rizas, and Alphonses with a nod of his head. "Alternate timelines or alternate dimensions, most likely."

"You're right in that they are alternate universes of each other," Maria said while Liz nodded. "But what _I'm_ wondering is how the two worlds could have been merged together in the first place. There's definitely something going on, and I've got a bad feeling about it."

"Does that mean you are willing to assist us?" Roy asked.

"I would if I could, but my hands are tied in trying to get Stanford home," Maria replied with a helpless shrug. "There's something blocking me from making a portal to his home dimension, so I have to wait for his brother to tear open an unstable rift so that I can stabilize it. I don't want it to end up tearing _both_ of our dimensions apart."

The others winced at that; Ed scoffed.

"So try to find the source of what's causing the two worlds to merge together," Maria said. "I'd check under the city; it's either going to be that homunculus' hiding place or that underground city that Dante used. Alphonse knows what I'm talking about."

Alphonse nodded while Mustang, Hawkeye, Al, and Ed blinked in confusion and looked at him.

"Underground city?" Mustang repeated.

"Liz knows more than I do; she watched the anime and read the manga inside and out." Maria waved a hand. "I suggest you get going and see if there's anything under the city still; if there is, the source of all the trouble is more likely to be down there than anywhere else."

Liz nodded in agreement at that. "Right. I'll let you guys go, then."

Maria gave a thumbs-up, grinned, then backed out of the portal and disappeared from sight.

"Be on your guard," Stanford said seriously. "There is a high chance that whoever caused this to happen may have ill will towards you."

Liz nodded again. "I'm planning on watching my back."

"Good." Stanford gave a nod, then pulled back and disappeared from sight.

Liz raised her sword slightly, and the portal collapsed in on itself and blipped out of existence; she turned to look over at the others. "Well, at least we have a lead now."

" _A_ lead," Mustang muttered, frowning. "It's not a particularly _good_ one." He shook his head.

"We were planning on leading an investigation down there to see if there was anything that could be done about blocking the area off," Hawkeye pointed out. "Now would be a good time to ensure that there isn't anything else down there to worry about."

"I'm going—"

"You're staying here!" Winry stomped over to Ed and poked him in the chest. "Your arm's still weak from what Alphonse did, and I am not about to let him almost lose you!"

Ed looked affronted at that. "Winry—"

"If whatever force that caused this to take place is waiting below the city for you to show up, it wouldn't be wise for you to come with us," Mustang said.

"I'm sure Armstrong would be more than willing to assist us," Hawkeye said dryly, causing both Mustangs to stiffen. She looked over at Liz. "How much combat experience do you have?"

"Liz shrugged. "I've faced up against monsters before, and I could use the sewers to my advantage, but I don't know whether or not I'd slow you down or actually be a help."

Hawkeye nodded. "Stay here and make sure that Ed and Al aren't placed into any more danger as a result of whatever it is that is going on."

"I don't need a body—"

"This girl can summon water out of _nowhere_ without affecting the _humidity,"_ Mustang hissed, cutting Ed off. "She's staying."

Ed's jaw dropped. He spluttered a little, as though trying to say something else, but the Mustangs and Rizas were already out the door without another word.

Ed whirled and glared at Liz, stomping over to her. He poked her in the chest, causing Liz to lean back a little. "All right, how can you do what you just did without causing something to be deconstructed?!"

"I don't know!" Liz hissed back, scowling. "I've only been doing this for like a year! Do you expect me to know everything?!"

"Yes! If this is something that you're doing, you should know by now what it is that you can do and what you have to do in order to do it!" Ed's golden eyes were searing out of anger and a great curiosity.

"I don't have a teacher for this – not even Maria knows—"

Liz winced suddenly and put her left hand up against her head, closing an eye as her head started throbbing. She gritted her teeth as Ed, Alphonse, Al, and Winry looked at her with expressions of surprise.

The headache persisted, and Liz closed the other eye and grunted in pain as _something_ flashed through her mind.

 _Underground – pipes and an old city – figures with red eyes and tattoos – a woman – golden hair and blank stare—_

Liz gasped as the vision ended abruptly and took the headache with it.

"Are you all right?" Winry asked in concern.

"I'm fine. Just…just need to sit for a second." Liz slid down the wall behind her and sat down on the floor of the room. She took in a couple deep breaths. "Oh scrap, this isn't good."

"What isn't?" Ed frowned. "What's going on?"

"World Jumpers get visions, too." Liz rubbed at her forehead, going over the vision again in her mind. "And the one that I got…I'm worried."

"Worried about what?" Alphonse asked.

Liz didn't answer for a moment, then scrambled to her feet. "Alphonse, the villain from your universe is still around. And she's got friends."

Alphonse's eyes widened sharply while Al and Ed looked confused.

"Dante's still here?!" Winry demanded.

"Dante?" Al repeated, frowning.

"Dad's ex," Alphonse said in reply, causing Ed to stiffen.

"You're kidding. That bastard was married before—"

"That doesn't matter for you, that version of him isn't _your_ dad," Liz replied quickly. "The _main_ problem is what she's _done."_

"What she's done?" Alphonse turned to look at Liz with an expression of worry. "What do you mean?"

"She's got your brother. She's got Edward." Liz fidgeted under their stares, looking and feeling uneasy. "And…and she's turned him into Pride."

 **Uh oh. Seems this universe has some inspiration from a certain fan-made game...**

 **And we get a quick appearance from Maria! Kind of wondering about Stanford's comment about worlds being merged together across the Multiverse...hmmm...I wonder what's causing that?**


	45. Transformers JLA part 4

**Yo! I'm back with the next chapter!**

 **Shadescribe - Yeah; Maria did deal with that, but it was two entirely different worlds rather than two of the same world. And yeah, worlds merging together are definitely not a good thing. There's going to be more hints coming as to what is causing that coming in future chapters, but you'll have to wait and see what could possibly be causing it.**

 **Anyway, here's the next chapter!**

 **Chapter 45 – Transformers/JLA, part 4**

"Whelp, Megatron knows I'm here," Matthew announced grimly as he plopped down on the couch in the Autobots' new base.

"He _what?"_ Ratchet looked over sharply, turning his attention away from the monitor that he had been staring at a moment ago. "Why would you reveal yourself to him?!"

"He noticed that I was in Metropolis before I could do anything; his gladiator sense must've picked up on me or something." Matthew shrugged helplessly.

"As far as I know, no gladiator has _any_ sense that would allow them to know when a World Jumper is in their presence or not." Ratchet scowled, then looked around at the other Autobots, who nodded in agreement.

"It is more likely that a Decepticon was watching from a distance and noticed your arrival there," Optimus said in a rather grim tone. "If he is aware of your presence, then it is far more likely that the end of the war will take far longer to arrive in this dimension than it did in yours."

"Is that your costume?" Miko bounded over and looked Matthew up and down, taking in the blue-and-black outfit that he happened to be wearing. "It looks a lot like Nightwing's."

"The colors, yeah." Matthew looked down at his costume, frowning a little. "They work, though; Aura only comes in blue."

"Oh. Well, I hope you don't get called the second Nightwing or something." Miko plopped down on the couch next to Matthew, eyeing his gloves with a curious expression before looking back up at him with wide, curious eyes. "So, what did Megatron do?"

"Considering that you came back in one piece, it doesn't look like he thought to go on the attack," Arcee commented from where she was leaning against the wall.

Matthew rubbed the back of his head. "Well, uh…we talked. About the war. I told him not to trust Grog; he said he'd take it into consideration. He also figured out I'm a World Jumper on his own, so…yeah, there's that." He frowned a little and looked up, taking note of the shocked expression Ratchet had on his face. "Where's everyone else, anyway?"

Ratchet made a spluttering noise. "You – Megatron knows?! And you're not acting _concerned?!"_

"Ultra Magnus and the others are presently attempting to scout out a number of locations in which there could be possible Predacon activity," Optimus replied evenly. "Nurse Darby, Jack, Joshua, and Raphael are upstairs. I do agree with Ratchet, Matthew; there is much to be concerned about with this news. If Megatron is aware of your presence and aware that you are not of this dimension, he may attempt to find you and kidnap you."

"I know; he did that to Maria right near the end." Matthew sighed and slumped back against the couch, frowning. "Shockwave _is_ on Earth, right?"

Arcee shifted slightly as Ratchet gained a glowering glare.

"Yes, he is," Ratchet growled. "Why? Are you planning on seeking him out?"

"I'd be insane to do something like that," Matthew replied. "What about the other Decepticons – they don't have Dreadwing, Breakdown, or Arachnid anymore, do that?"

Ratchet jolted at that while Arcee's optics widened sharply.

"Arachnid is _dead?"_ Arcee asked. "How?"

"Breakdown has offlined here, yes," Ratchet continued, frowning, "and Dreadwing has, as well, but Arachnid is still a part of the active Decepticons as far as we are aware. Why?"

Matthew frowned. "In our dimension she got turned into an Energon vampire and was put up on one of Cybertron's moons by Soundwave to keep her from sucking them all dry. She's got all the Insecticons up there, too."

The three Autobots present exchanged alarmed looks at that while Miko's eyes widened.

"Whoa. Cybertronians can turn into vampires?" She grinned widely. "That's so cool!"

"It is _not,_ " Ratchet responded pointedly. "If you are implying what I think you are implying, then she is simply a dead husk now that is driven only by food and uses whatever vestigial energies her Spark left behind in her core processor in order to emulate how she used to act. It would be far better to have sent her to a slag pit than to a _moon –_ and one of _our_ moons, no less!"

"This is Matthew's dimension that we are speaking of, not our own," Optimus responded evenly. "If Arachnid has been brought into this state in this dimension and is presently on one of Cybertron's moons, we will solve that issue as quickly as possible. For now, let us concentrate on more serious matters."

"Like the fact that Megatron knows he's here?" Arcee nodded in Matthew's direction.

"Batman told me that I shouldn't be out in the open for a couple of days." Matthew shrugged. "So he sent me here – whether that means _you're_ keeping an eye on _me_ or the other way around, I'm not entirely sure."

"More than likely, _we_ are keeping an eye on _you_ ," Ratchet muttered. "Especially since Maria managed to get herself into trouble with that…that _machine_ while she was here." He shuddered a bit.

Matthew's expression shifted to a more dark expression at that; he sank down into the couch a little. "At least the guy's not able to get into anyone's heads anymore; I think we're all thankful for that."

 _"That_ is an understatement," Ratchet replied crisply.

The comm system in the computers crackled suddenly, getting the others' attention. _::Ratchet, we require a Ground Bridge::_

Matthew blinked. There was an urgentness in Ultra Magnus' voice that he hadn't heard before.

 _::Are there any humans in the base presently?::_

"Just Miko and Matthew." Ratchet frowned, one hand resting on the Ground Bridge controls. "Why?"

 _::We are bringing back…guests::_

Magnus' hesitation made Matthew's eyebrows shoot up.

"What sort of guests?" Ratchet asked, suspicious.

 _::The kind that don't like being kept waitin'::_ came Wheeljack's response. _::So open the scrapping Ground Bridge already!::_

Ratchet's optics narrowed at that, but he grasped the lever and pulled it down, activating the Ground Bridge.

Optimus stepped forward as the first of the figures started coming through: a tall mech with an almost regal bearing about him and large metal spikes going around his head like a crown.

Ratchet made a noise of shock as he stepped back and away from the Ground Bridge. "What—"

Matthew leapt to his feet as two others followed him through, followed closely by the Autobots who had been absent from the base a moment ago. "Predaking?!"

"How do you know what Shockwave calls his lead pet?!" Ratchet demanded, turning sharply to look at Matthew with an angry, but also uneasy expression on his face.

"Whoa!" Miko looked up with wide eyes at the three humanoid, Cybertronian figures with their beast-like features. "I didn't think Predacons could transform! That's so cool!"

"They aren't supposed to," Ratchet snapped in reply. "At least according to the legends."

Predaking let out a low growl, causing Ratchet to stop short and stiffen, arms held up as though he was about to bring out his swords at any moment if he needed to defend himself. He turned his head and looked down at Matthew with glowing yellow optics that almost seemed to pierce through him. "You are the World Jumper of whom Megatron spoke?"

"How did he learn about that so fast?" Matthew muttered under his breath, frowning. He raised his voice. "That depends. If you're looking for Flare-Up, my sister isn't here."

"Hm." Predaking frowned.

One of the Predacons next to him started snickering. "Maybe she's hiding somewhere – I'd like to see what she would do if this one was in danger of having his limbs torn off!"

"Oh, yes, I'd love to see what a little human could do in response to that threat," the other Predacon agreed, nodding.

"Skylynx, Dark Steel, we are not here for threats," Predaking growled shortly. "We are guests, not invaders. Do not overstay your welcome."

Ratchet blinked at that, looking a little surprised before he exchanged looks with Arcee, who seemed just as hesitant to trust that the Predacons were not here for some dark reason.

"What is your reason for your arrival then, Predaking?" Optimus asked, getting the Predacon's attention.

Predaking inclined his head, eyeing the Prime with an expression that made it seem like he was looking down on the leader of the Optimus. "Megatron's recent actions have me…concerned for the state of the war. He has said that we will reclaim our homeland of Cybertron and once gain become the dominant race, but we have yet to successfully restore Cybertron, and we are being used for nothing more than mere scouts and cannon fodder." He spat out the last two words with an expression of disgust.

Matthew's eyebrows shot up as Miko's eyes widened; she looked at him as a wide grin crossed her face before she looked back at the three Predacons.

Matthew had a feeling that she was hoping for something that wasn't going to happen.

"You are saying that you no longer wish to side with the Decepticons," Optimus surmised.

"I am saying there is something wrong with the creatures he has decided to side with in that their petty squabbles are doing nothing for us and either he has refused to see that or he does not notice them at all!"

Well, this was certainly news to Matthew. "Uh…."

Predaking's gaze moved sharply from Optimus to Matthew, causing him to jump a little when he felt the predator's gaze on him. "This organic _dresses_ like them. What do you call yourself?"

Matthew straightened under Predaking's gaze. "Aura Seeker. My sister is Flare-Up."

Predaking inclined his head. "The same Flare-Up who Megatron speaks of with great distaste?"

"There aren't any others that I'm aware of," Matthew replied.

"There shouldn't be." Miko folded her arms across her chest and huffed. "Someone got it _copyrighted."_

Matthew looked at Miko with a wide-eyed expression. "You're serious."

"Yup." Miko shrugged. "No idea why they did that, but nobody except for Maria can be Flare-Up now."

"That is irrelevant to the present situation," Predaking said shortly. "Where is Flare-Up? I must speak with her."

"She's in another dimension." Matthew shrugged a little. "I came in her—"

"What's going on – oh."

Matthew turned upon hearing Joshua's voice and caught sight of him pausing on the stairs, blinking a couple times as soon as he caught sight of Predaking.

When Joshua next opened his mouth, what came out was a deep, mechanical growl.

Matthew jumped. "What the—"

Predaking stiffened suddenly at the sound, straightening up as he raised his head. "What is this?" he asked in a confused snarl.

"Ah. You recognize it, but don't speak it. I see." Joshua bowed. "My name is Joshua. I am Flare-Up's cousin. What I was attempting to say was a traditional Predacon greeting from our dimension; forgive me for not knowing that you would not recognize it, your majesty."

Matthew blinked blankly a couple times at Joshua's statement as the Autobots and Predacons present stared at Joshua with blank expressions.

"That is so cool." Miko grinned widely. "You know how to speak Predacon?!"

"And Maximal and Cybertronian, although they are simply different dialects of the same language." Joshua came down the stairs the rest of the way and stepped onto the floor of the base. "As someone who works regularly with them in our dimension, it's mandatory that I know how to utilize the language for those who do not see much of a reason in learning English and its many dialects."

"Since when?" Ratchet responded.

"Since Cybertron was returned to life and I was considered a foreigner; it wouldn't make sense for me to demand that Cybertronians learn my language in order to make me more comfortable." Joshua stopped next to Matthew and Miko, looking up at the Predacons.

"I think I like this one," Dark Steel commented, giving Skylynx a sly grin. His companion chuckled in agreement.

"Predaking said that he didn't like what Megatron was doing with Grod and the others," Matthew explained to Joshua. "I…don't think he's planning on allying with us."

"You would be correct in that assumption," Predaking replied shortly.

"Then why have us bring you into our base at gunpoint, huh?" Wheeljack spoke up sourly. "Do you want to be hostages?"

"Don't even think about suggesting that," Joshua spoke up as Predaking whirled to snarl at Wheeljack. "Kings go where they wish, do they not, your majesty?"

Predaking turned to look back at Joshua with an expression of surprise before his expression shifted from a snarl to something far more regal; he gave a nod in response. "That is so."

"What is your reason for being here, then, if you dislike the allies the Decepticons have made? I assume that you are aware that this base is shielded so as to prevent Decepticon detection." Joshua moved forward a few steps, hands spread wide so as to show that he didn't have any visible weapons on him.

"I am aware of that," Predaking replied shortly. "I am also aware that Flare-Up was aware of the treachery Megatron faced from his previously so-called 'allies'." He sneered through his teeth. "If Flare-Up is not here, then my visit here is absolutely useless."

"I wouldn't say that, your majesty." Joshua motioned back to Matthew. "Matthew and myself are aware of the people who live on this world and what it is that they are capable of. We can prove to give just as good of a warning that Flare-Up is capable of."

Matthew blinked a couple times when Joshua motioned back to him, then nodded quickly when Predaking's gaze moved to him. "Y-yeah! I actually warned Megatron not too long ago against allying with Grod. I don't know if he's going to take my advice, but I should hope that he considers it."

Joshua raised an eyebrow at that while Predaking and the others Cybertronians in the room inclined their heads at that statement – except for Ratchet, who shook his head in dismay. "Was he expecting Maria to show up?"

"He said that Soundwave had sensed me opening a portal, so…I guess?" Matthew shrugged. "I didn't think that he'd be able to do that."

"He must have tuned his own Ground Bridge abilities to be able to detect it." Joshua inclined his head and tapped his chin. "I suppose that such a thing might not be too far-fetched; it's not like we go above and beyond physics in order to be able to achieve what it is that we are capable of. I shall have to do some research on this later; it might connect with one of my other projects…." He trailed off, then shook his head. "I am getting off track. Our issue right now is with the state of the Decepticons and how much further this could escalate if Megatron continues to ally himself with humans who have less than pure intentions. What say you, your majesty?"

Predaking blinked as the attention of everyone in the room was turned back to him; he seemed somewhat surprised, but then straightened up again in a more regal manner. "I say that something is wrong with Megatron's way of thinking. He does not intend to ally himself with some, but he acts as though that decision does not matter when it comes to allying himself with others. He detests Lex Luthor and yet makes use of his technology freely. He contradicts himself between being in the presence of humans and being solely in the presence of Decepticons. I doubt that he is in his right mind, and thus is incapable of leading the Decepticons. However, none have stepped forward in order to challenge him – I lead the Predacons, not his kind. I simply wish to see the war end, rather than see it continue and wreck havoc on what people I have revived who stand with me."

Skylynx and Dark Steel nodded in agreement.

Matthew blinked a couple times in surprise at that; from what he remembered, Predaking had tried to fight Megatron in the last hour of the war. Now that he thought about it, however, it was more than likely that it was a result of _having the other Predacon clones killed_ that he went against Megatron. With other Predacons with him, he didn't see a need to face Megatron head-on.

So he was strategizing like a king instead.

"The state of things certainly seems dire, if Megatron is portraying these actions," Optimus said finally. "Either the war has begun to take its toll on him, or he has something far graver in mind that none of us are presently capable of expecting." He focused on Predaking. "What does this mean for you, Predaking?"

The Predacon inclined his head. "It means that I do not intend to remain allied with the Decepticons for much longer; however, do not count me among your allies. I still do not see fit to trust you anymore than I have trusted you not to attack me from behind while in your territory. See fit that you leave us be and do no call upon us if you see fit to bring us back into this conflict."

"And if we were to restore Cybertron?"

Everyone in the room looked over at Joshua with varying degrees of disbelief on their faces.

"The Omega Lock has been destroyed!" Ratchet protested. "There is no way to restore Cybertron!"

"The Omega Lock was also destroyed in our dimension, and yet we have managed to restore the planet to life," Joshua replied without missing a beat.

The Cybertronians stared at Joshua and Matthew as Miko whirled to look at them with wide eyes.

"Are you serious?" Miko demanded. "How?!"

"I will only inform you if the Predacons are willing to assist in the endeavor; they play an important role in the planet's restoration." Joshua inclined his head at Predaking, who inclined his head in response. "If you are willing."

"I will consider it," Predaking replied. "You will know if I am inclined to assist you."

Joshua nodded in response.

Predaking turned and looked at Ratchet abruptly. "Send us back."

Ratchet flinched back defensively at the sight of the yellow optics boring into him, and he quickly moved to reactivate the Ground Bridge. Within moments, the three Predacons were gone.

"What do you mean, the Predacons play an important role in restoring Cybertron?!" Ratchet demanded, whirling sharply on Joshua and Matthew as the Ground Bridge shut down. "They are allied with the Decepticons – how in the name of Primus can—"

"Their CNA and your perfected Synthetic Energon formula are more important to Cybertron combined than they are separated," Joshua replied without missing a beat. "However, obtaining the CNA is difficult enough now, as Shockwave succeeded in creating more Predacons and did not come to this discovery on his own."

"You are suggesting that he has not already?" Ultra Magnus asked grimly.

"Have you found and blown up a hidden lab of his that had developing Predacons still in it?" Joshua responded.

The base fell silent. Miko's eyes widened at that as her mouth formed a small "o."

"That happened in our dimension – Megatron didn't want Predaking fighting him for control of the Decepticons, so he got the Autobots to blow up the projects for him," Matthew spoke up. "That way Predaking was focused on us rather than focused on Megatron. He got the truth in the end, but he tore Magnus' hand off first."

Magnus looked down at his own hands with an odd expression at that.

"I see," Optimus said. "Then events in your dimension escalated far more quickly than they were capable of here, as a result of Predaking's seeming zeal for power and the resulting trickery that was enacted by the Decepticons."

"That's the idea." Matthew nodded.

"So, then, what are we gonna do now?" Miko asked. "The Predacons just split – they're not gonna go back to Megatron as far as we know – so how are we gonna get Cybertron back to life again _here?"_

"There's the rub," Joshua muttered, bowing his head a little with a frown.

"Considering your wisdom in speaking with Predaking and what you know already from your dimension," Ultra Magnus spoke up, "what say you now, Joshua?"

Joshua looked up at the Wrecker Commander's question. "The data I have still isn't complete; we need to know what Grod and his humanoid allies are doing in order to hinder or increase Megatron's strength and progress in the war. Only then will I know for sure what we should or should not do in order to bring this war to an end and bring Cybertron back to life."

"Matthew?" Optimus prompted. "What of this 'Grod's' movements?"

"He's been too quiet," Matthew replied, thinking over what had been going on while he had been training with Nightwing and the others. "Everything's been too quiet – it's like the entire east coast is a powder keg waiting to explode. It's only a matter of time before it does and when it does it's going to be chaos out there." He motioned to the walls of the base they were standing in, as though he was motioning to the entire world that was outside it.

Optimus nodded slightly in response. "When you return to them, see that you pay as close attention to any possible movements they could be making. Even the most docile of actions can prove to be part of a larger plan."

"That's my plan." Matthew nodded in response, then looked over at Joshua. "What about you?"

"I think I've got something that Batman might want to hear," Joshua replied casually. "Especially considering that he seems to have been working on something on the side. It's more than likely that he'll be the one to pick you up later; in the meantime, you should probably get some rest in one of the rooms upstairs. You'd be no use to him and his odd hours if you aren't at least partially rested."

"Yes, you should be sleeping!" Ratchet agreed instantly. "And that means you too, Miko! Now shoo!" He motioned for the three smaller figures to head up the stairs. "We have other business to attend to!"

Matthew smirked, then yawned and blinked in surprise before he shook his head and started upstairs towards the house at the top of it. Miko and Joshua followed after him.

"I don't see why we can't be down there when they're talking about stuff," Miko complained, frowning.

"It's for the best," Joshua replied. "No doubt they're trying to figure out a way that everything that just happened makes some form of sense."

"And does it?" Matthew looked back.

"In some ways…no. I'm concerned over the true reasons that the Predacons managed to make their way here in the first place. Predaking showed undying loyalty to Megatron and the Decepticons before he discovered Megatron's treachery involving his kind. I am concerned as to what they are doing now, especially considering that, if Predaking's words are to be believed, there is something wrong with Megatron's mind."

"Megatron's mind?" Miko repeated.

"Yes. Which means that I'm going to have to arrange a _talk_ with someone who knows his mind inside and out."

Matthew gained an odd expression at that. "You don't mean…"

"Yes. I am going to have to talk to Brainiac."

 **Uh oh. Joshua, be careful...**

 **I'll see you guys later this week with the next chapter!**


	46. Fullmetal Alchemist Mashup part 5

**I'm back! And slowing down a bit on the writing, so I don't think that there's going to be a 20-some chapter gap between me and you guys for too much longer. I'm not stopping the "three chapters a week" posting schedule just yet, though.**

 **Shadescribe - Predaking is definitely too proud and honorable to lie. As for Brainiac, well...you're gonna have to wait a bit to find out what happens with him. :)**

 **Here we go! Back to Amestris!**

 **Chapter 46 – Fullmetal Alchemist Mashup, part 5**

Alphonse definitely did _not_ like what Liz had just said. "She – what? But – but that would mean –" He shook, wide-eyed and pale. "H-he c-can't be dead…he can't be!"

 _"Dead?!"_ Ed repeated sharply, turning his head to focus solely on Alphonse. Al shook in his bed, appearing incredibly uneasy at the idea that Edward Elric could possibly be even remotely deceased. "What do you mean?"

"H-homunculus are made from a dead person's remains…." Alphonse shifted uneasily under Ed's gaze. "Th-they have their memories, but they aren't them."

Ed stiffened at that. "What? No, that's impossible – homunculus are creatures that represent different aspects of the Bastard who tried to turn the entire country into a Philosopher's Stone! I've seen him turn a Xing prince into Greed but leave him alive!"

"What? Why would a Xing prince get involved in what's happening in Amestris?" Alphonse asked in confusion.

"You mean you never met Ling?" Al asked in confusion.

"…no? Should I have?"

"That's besides the point," Liz spoke up. "Dante has Edward and turned him into Pride somehow. I'm guessing it's the same way that Ling was turned into Greed, but I don't know."

"A guess is good as anything," Ed muttered. "We gotta warn Mustang." He strode towards the door of the hospital room. "Are you two coming or not?"

Liz and Alphonse exchanged looks across the room nervously as Ed stopped at the door of the room and looked back at them.

"Well?" Ed snapped. "You came here because you wanted to help, right? Are you gonna help or not?"

"I'll be all right here," Al said carefully. "You guys go on ahead and rescue Brother's double."

"I'll stay here and make sure nothing happens," Winry added. She bit her lower lip. "Just…be careful, all right? I don't want to lose you again – either one of you."

Alphonse looked over at his counterpart and Winry for a moment, appearing nervous. Then, after a moment, he nodded. "All right." He looked over at Ed. "Let's go."

Ed nodded, then opened the door and stepped out into the hallway. Alphonse followed after him and, a moment later, Liz followed on their heels before closing the door behind them.

Out in the hall, there were a couple Amestrian guards standing on either side of the door into Al's room – they nodded in greeting to Ed, only to blink in confusion at the sight of Alphonse. Neither one of the Elrics looked over at them, although Liz eyed them cautiously as they strode down the hall and towards the stairs leading down to the main floor.

"Aren't they going to try and stop us?" Liz asked as they entered the stairwell. "They did say that we should stay in there."

"Who cares? The Colonel's gonna expect me to do this anyway." Ed waved a hand in the air, as though batting off Liz's concern. "Besides, the only one who's gonna know how to fight me is me, right?"

"Except that he's Pride and he can do the thing with the shadows now," Liz added worriedly.

"Thing with the shadows?" Alphonse repeated. "Pride couldn't do that!"

"Yeah, the kid could!" Ed retorted.

 _"Kid?_ Pride was King Bradley!"

Ed stopped short at the base of the stairs and turned back sharply to look at Alphonse. _"What?_ No, Bradley was Wrath! Pride was his kid!"

"Wrath was a kid with your arm and leg!" Alphonse argued.

"Not here!" Liz spoke up quickly from where she stood a short distance up the stairs. "We can argue about who was what later, right? We've gotta rescue your brother first!"

Ed and Alphonse exchanged looks at that, then burst out of the stairwell; Liz quickly scrambled after them as they dashed out of the hospital and out into the street.

"We gotta follow them down there," Ed muttered, looking up and down the street. Liz blinked in confusion when she noticed that the area was completely devoid of people. "Ah-ha!"

Liz turned her head to look at Ed as he dashed towards an open sewer grate.

"Are you sure we're gonna get down there that way?" Alphonse asked. "We had to take an elevator down from an old church, how—"

"That Bastard had everything connected through the sewers; the homunculus are going to be running around in here soon if we don't do anything about it!" Ed looked down at the open grate. "And it looks like the Colonel had the exact same idea. We'd better move and catch up to them fast, or else who _knows_ what's gonna happen down there."

With that said, Ed jumped down into the open sewer, leaving Alphonse and Liz to exchange looks.

"Is this how they did this…." Alphonse trailed off.

"I think so," Liz replied. "There were a lot of them split up into different groups; some came down from the capital." She nodded to the large, white building in the distance.

"Huh." Alphonse paused, then looked down at the open hole in the street. "Well, we'd better go after him."

"Yup." Liz gained an uneasy expression, then plugged her nose and jumped, squeezing her eyes shut as she did so.

Liz landed in ankle deep sewage water and instantly felt it start to seep into her socks and shoes, bringing out a noise of disgust from the teenager as she quickly moved to the walkway on the side of the tunnel. Seconds later, Alphonse jumped down and sent water splashing up in all directions.

"Yuck," Liz complained, her expression shifting into one of disgust as she shook her shoes off. "I _really_ hate sewers."

"You've been in one before?" Alphonse asked as he joined her on the walkway.

"Yeah, and it was even more disgusting that this one, and that's saying something." Liz stuck her tongue out. "I'm looking forward to getting this all cleaned out as soon as possible."

"Will you two hurry it up?!"

Liz and Alphonse looked up when they heard Ed's impatient tone, catching sight of the young alchemist standing a short distance away, arms folded across his chest in an impatient manner.

"We don't have all day to stand around and talk about how bad the sewers are," Ed snapped. "Come on." He turned and started stalking down the tunnel, coat flaring out dramatically behind him.

Liz and Alphonse quickly moved to catch up with the alchemist as they stalked down the sewer pipe.

"How close do we need to be in order to find a way in?" Liz asked. "I, uh…I never got a map of the city or anything like that when you guys went in."

Ed looked back at Liz with an odd expression. "You really think you can get down there with a _map?_ "

"W-well, I don't know! I haven't exactly been traveling between dimensions to help people out for long, and the last couple of places I was at _had_ maps!" Liz threw her hands up in a defensive manner.

Ed snorted, then he turned back around and kept going down the tunnel. "Maps. Feh. We don't need them – we're close enough anyway."

"We are?" Alphonse asked.

"Yeah." Ed came to a stop next to the curving wall of the tunnel and paused, putting one hand up against the smooth, dark stonework. He tapped a finger against the stonework for a moment, then nodded and stepped back before clapping his hands together and slamming them into the wall.

 _Brrzp!_

Liz jumped back in surprise as bright blue electricity spat out from the wall as soon as Ed slammed his hands into it, causing the wall to shift suddenly into something else: a set of large stone double doors with gargoyles around the edges. "Whoa!"'

Ed looked over at her with an odd expression before he shook his head and pushed the doors open, revealing stone corridors lit by torches. "Looks like these are still being used. Either the military's been down here or some other schmuck is running around planning something."

"Or it's Dante," Alphonse suggested as he and Liz followed after him. "She could be hiding down here planning her next move." His voice had a grim tone to it.

"And how bad is this 'Dante' if she's your dad's ex?" Ed asked, looking at Alphonse with a curious and slightly aggressive expression.

"She and Dad moved their souls from body to body using the Philosopher's Stone in order to stay alive for six hundred years," Alphonse replied. "They made Greed, too – he was supposed to be their son, but…he died. When Dad had enough of living, he said that he wanted to stop, but Dante wanted to keep going. So he kept doing his best in order to stop her, and it…kinda escalated after we were born."

"Because he left her for Mom?"

"…I think that was part of it?" Alphonse looked over at Liz.

"He took off with the Philosopher's Stone they were using to body jump," Liz explained. "And the bodies they're both in are decaying at a faster rate than normal – your dad, as far as I know, _wants_ to die because he's lived too long. Dante wants to keep going; he doesn't. So she chased after him for it. Then went after you."

Ed had an odd expression on his face at that; he looked somewhere in between shocked and angered. Alphonse had a grim expression on his own face.

"That sounds right." Alphonse nodded. "We've gotta hurry and find Brother – who knows what Dante's done to him."

Liz nodded in agreement while Ed shook off his shocked anger and gained a more determined expression.

"Right," Ed spoke aloud. "Let's—"

 _"Edward….Alponse…."_

Ed stiffened instantly, eyes widening sharply as his face paled at the sound of the woman's voice. Alphonse stiffened as well, but not with a frozen expression of shock but instead a defensive one.

Liz summoned her sword. The voice was familiar, but different enough that she wasn't entire sure of who it was that had spoken.

A woman in a long, black dress stepped around the corner of the corridor ahead of them. The look on her face was one of boredom, and her entire figure seemed to flicker in and out of existence, almost as though she wasn't entirely there…

…or wasn't entirely solid.

Ed shook his head slowly and stumbled back. "No, th-that's –"

"Sloth!" Alphonse's voice was accusatory. "So you are still around!"

Ed turned his head sharply at Alphonse's exclamation. " _Sloth?!_ But Sloth was—"

"Not where Alphonse comes from," Liz responded. The blade of her sword became covered in a thin layer of water as she shifted into an attacking stance. "She's left over from what happened in the basement!"

Ed's eyes widened as he looked at Liz sharply at that while Trisha Elric – Sloth – advanced towards them, the hem of her dress rippling with water.

"You two boys shouldn't be down here," Sloth said casually and in a lazy manner. "I should think that you two should go back up and forget that this ever happened."

Alphonse started to move in front of Ed protectively, getting ready to use his own alchemy as the water on Liz's sword started glowing.

"How _dare_ you."

Ed's voice, filled with anger and grief, stopped the two of them short.

"How _dare_ you wear the face of our mother." Ed stepped forward, his hands clenched and his face tight with anger. "Trisha Elric died _years_ ago; human transmutation can't bring her back, and it didn't. Don't you _dare_ pretend that you can take her place!" He slammed his hands together and slammed them against the ground, causing stone spikes to rush up and impale Sloth through her middle.

Sloth jolted in shock as her eyes widened sharply, and she dissolved into water before reforming next to where she had been standing a moment before. "You won't be able to get rid of me that easily, _Edward._ "

Ed blinked in confusion. "That's impossible…."

Liz's eyes narrowed, and she swung her sword suddenly, sending out a wave of water that slammed into Sloth, leaving her unharmed and bemused.

"You really think that's going to do anything against me?" Sloth asked.

"No, but it doesn't hurt to try." Liz twitched her sword's blade ever so slightly, but Sloth continued to stand tall. "Well there goes any chance of ripping her apart and keeping her that way…."

"Liz, you stay back; we'll handle this." Alphonse stepped forward, ready to set off another transmutation.

"Right," Ed agreed. "Your water thing isn't going to do anything."

Liz frowned at that, then nodded in agreement and moved back as Ed and Alphonse moved in front.

"You two are making a grave mistake," Sloth said. She shifted her stance slightly, making her appear more as though she was ready to attack despite the fact that her expression still remained lax. "If you really think you can stand up against me—"

"I've seen homunculus die before, this shouldn't be a problem!" Ed barked back as he slammed his hands into the ground again. "You're going down, Sloth!"

Two walls of stone came up suddenly on either side of Sloth before slamming together, squishing her between them and causing water to splash out in all directions.

"What was that?!" came a voice from somewhere down the corridor – a familiar voice, no less. "It sounded like a tunnel was collapsing!"

Ed cursed under his breath as Liz sucked in a breath of her own. "Of course he's down here."

"How could have Mustang gotten down here so fast?!" Alphonse demanded as Sloth started to reform.

"How do you think? Envy _died_ somewhere around here – of _course_ he knows how to get in!"

Alphonse's eyes widened sharply at that; Liz winced at the memory of having seen that in the anime.

"Angry Mustang is terrifying," Liz said.

Ed scoffed, but something about the sound wasn't as wholehearted as it could have been.

"If you think that having that fool down here will increase your chances of being able to defeat us? We have plans, boys, and I will not let you interfere—"

 _Snap._

 _FWOOM!_

A blast of flames suddenly came blasting down the corridor; Ed and Alphonse barely had enough time to summon up a wall of stone before the fire could have hit them and Liz. At the same time, Sloth-not-Trisha let out an inhuman shriek at the same time that Liz heard the sound of something being _vaporized._

Liz winced at the noise as repeated snaps and screeching suddenly filled the air; Ed and Alphonse exchanged looks at the noise.

Eventually, there was a final _snap!_ that wasn't answered with a scream, and the noise died down almost instantly, leaving the area filled with an uneasy quiet.

"I know you're back there," Mustang called.

Ed clapped his hands and hit the shield, causing it to crumble to dust, revealing Mustang and one of the Hawkeyes standing at the other end of the corridor. Between them was what looked like a vaporized puddle of _something_ that seemed to be slightly tinted red, but that was quickly fading.

"Care to tell me what that was?" Mustang motioned to the vaporized circle on the floor.

"That was Sloth." Alphonse stepped forward. "When _we_ did human transmutation, she was what came out of it. Our…our mom." He stared at the vaporized puddle for a moment, then looked away quickly.

Mustang and Hawkeye exchanged looks at that, not entirely sure what to think of this news.

"The Homunculi formed differently in his dimension," Liz spoke up, as though that explained everything. "They were the results of human transmutation, not – not anything that the Dwarf in the Flask did – Van Hohenheim's name for him, not mine." She held up her hands when Ed looked over at her sharply.

"Dwarf in the Flask, huh?" Ed gained a rather sharp-toothed grin. "How big of a flask?"

Liz started to show the size of it with her hands – the flask couldn't have been bigger than a small rubber ball a five-year-old might play with – when Mustang cleared his throat.

"That's besides the point right now; what is is that there are more of these freaks running around and we need to either corral them or destroy them before they can cause anymore damage; I've already seen three copies of that woman today." He motioned to the vaporized spot on the floor. "So we haven't faced her directly yet. And there's some kid with wild hair like Envy's jumping around with an automail arm and leg."

"Wrath!" Alphonse exclaimed, getting odd looks from Ed, Mustang, and Hawkeye. "He could actually help us! I remember him fighting and defeating Gluttony for me after Brother disappeared and I got my body back!"

Mustang and Hawkeye exchanged doubting expressions.

"Maybe." Liz swallowed when they looked over at her. "We've gotta worry about Pride, though."

"What do you mean?" Mustang gained a grim expression.

"Dante did to him what was done to Ling. Somehow. Either that or she killed him and brought him back to life – I don't know." Liz shook her head. "Point is, we have to find him."

Mustang and Hawkeye started at Liz with slightly alarmed expressions.

"You're kidding," Mustang said.

"She's not."

Mustang, Ed, Liz, and Hawkeye stiffened at the voice and turned to look down a different corridor, catching sight of a boy with wild hair and two metal limbs – one arm, and one leg.

"Wrath!" Alphonse exclaimed.

Ed made a noise of disbelief. " _That's_ Wrath? Can't be."

Wrath walked out of his corridor and into the one that the others were standing in, looking at Ed with an odd expression. "What do you mean, I can't be?"

"Wrath was Bradley," Ed said. "Not…." He trailed off, looking the boy over with an uncertain expression. "I never saw you."

Wrath stiffened a little at that, looking startled. Then he shook his head and gained a more determined expression. "That's not important right now. What _is_ is getting you all out of here before Pride finds you and kills you!"

"Brother would never—"

" _Brother_ is gone," Wrath sneered at Alphonse, causing the blond boy to step back in alarm. "It's just Pride now. If Ed's in there somewhere, he's not coming out – Dante made sure of that."

"If I know Edward, he's not going to stay down for long," Mustang said. "Are you here to help us or not?" He readied his fingers. "Because if you aren't, I'm more than willing to end this before it goes too far."

Wrath didn't move. "I can't help as much as I'd like, but I don't want to fight, either." He paused. "Dante's in the center of everything. If you want to get to her and Pride, you're going to have to get through Sloth first. I think Envy might be somewhere, too."

Mustang stiffened. Hawkeye put her hand on his shoulder and squeezed tightly.

"He…he was Dante's kid, so she's holding him back as a last resort to keep you from Ed."

"Why keep him from us when he's got Pride's ability?" Liz responded.

The question got an odd look from Wrath as he blinked in confusion. "Ability? Y-you mean like what Sloth can do?"

Liz's eyes widened as Mustang, Hawkeye, and Ed exchanged looks while Alphonse looked between them in confusion.

"What are you talking about?" Alphonse asked.

"They don't know." Ed's surprised expression shifted into a knowing smirk. "Heh. This is gonna be interesting."

"What are you talking about?" Wrath repeated Alphonse's question. "You – do you know something about Pride that we don't?"

"Don't worry about it right now," Mustang replied. "We need to find the others and get past Sloth before she floods this place and does who knows what else."

"Maybe I could draw her out." Liz brandished her sword again. "I've got similar abilities to what she has; that might get her attention."

"You really think that she's going to come after a kid who can't do anything to her?" Ed responded, scowling.

"Water's my main thing, yeah, but I haven't done everything with water that I can yet."

Ed looked at her oddly at that, as did the others.

"Are you a homunculus?" Wrath asked.

Liz shook her head. "I'm not. I'm just different. So are we going to go find Sloth or not?"

There came the sound of water trickling from somewhere down one of the corridors. Wrath started stepping back into the corridor he had come from a moment ago.

Hawkeye turned sharply to look down the corridor that she and Mustang had come from. "She's coming."

"Wrath, you could help us," Alphonse said. "You're gonna be okay, I –"

"No, I'm not gonna be." Wrath shook his head. "Just…just take care of Mama, okay?"

Then he turned and dashed down the corridor without another word.

"He was Izumi's kid," Liz murmured to Ed, causing his eyes to widen sharply.

"You're kidding," he said flatly.

Liz shook her head.

"Geez. Does he know she's—"

"I think so," Alphonse spoke up. He turned his head slightly, listening to the trickling water. "She's getting close. I don't see any armor around, so I can't do my usual thing."

"Usual thing?" Ed repeated, startled.

"Liz, do you really think you can do anything?" Alphonse looked over at Liz with a determined expression.

"I think so." Liz's grip tightened on her sword's handle. Water started to cover over the blade again. "I've fought at least one water monster before, so I'm just going to have to improvise my plan a bit from there."

Hawkeye and Mustang moved back into the corridor as water started flowing in from where they'd come from; Liz moved forward past them and stood with her sword at the ready between them and the water as it started to flow _upward_ into the air, forming into the woman that Mustang had apparently vaporized moments ago.

Although, there was something different about this particular Sloth. There were bags under her eyes, and she looked more haggard than the water clone that had been standing there minutes ago.

"Sloth," Liz greeted. "You've been better."

Sloth's eyes narrowed. "What are you?"

"I'm human. Just different." Liz shifted her grip on the sword a little. "You're not though."

Something shimmered in the water on Liz's sword for a moment, but it was gone before most of them noticed. Ed did, and frowned.

"Humans can't do this!" Sloth made a motion with her hands, and her fingers elongated into watery tentacles that shot towards Liz.

 _Kkkrik!_

Liz swung her blade just as the water on it turned an opaque white, slicing the water tentacles just before they could come into contact with her. The resulting stubs with their icy bases fell to the floor with solid _thunks,_ leaving Sloth's tentacle fingers as nothing more than icy stumps.

Sloth cried out in alarm and pulled back, red electricity sparking along the length of her fingers as they returned to normal. "What – how – you should not be able to—"

"I said I'm different." Liz held the ice-covered sword in front of her, eyes narrow. "I didn't say _how_ different."

If there had been any hesitance in Liz before, it was certainly gone now.

Sloth looked startled for a moment, but then she shook her head as the hem of her dress started to turn into water and spread out, coating the floor in water that was ankle deep. "If you think you—"

Liz jumped up and slammed her blade down. "Jump! Icy Terrain!"

As soon as the blade came in contact with the water, a spiral of ice spread out suddenly, immobilizing Sloth's feet as the others jumped up before the water could reach them.

"Whoa!" Alphonse slipped and fell on his back. Liz didn't look back as Ed helped him to his feet.

"This is impossible!" Sloth snapped. "Only homunculus are able to do things like this! You have to be—"

"I'm _not!_ I am human, I have magic powers, and that's the end of it!" Liz readied another swing, then lunged forward, her feet surprisingly sure on the ice. "You're running low on steam, Sloth; I can tell. You wouldn't have given us so much as a chance to talk before, you don't have any more Red Water, do you?"

Alphonse's eyes widened at that while Ed, Mustang, and Hawkeye exchanged looks of confusion.

Sloth gritted her teeth, her arms turning to water and shooting towards Liz with the intent to impale her. Liz spun her sword in a circular motion in response, giving her some shielding and causing the two large tentacles to bounce off and into two separate directions, slamming into the walls of the corridor and cracking the stone as a result.

"You do not know what forces you are messing with," Sloth hissed. "I still have enough strength to drown you all!"

"If you did you probably would have done it already," Liz snapped in reply, readying her sword as the twin tentacles came back again. One bounced off the blade while the other one gunned for her side.

 _Snap!_

 _FWOOM!_

A blast of flames and heat burst past Liz, vaporizing the watery limb that would have hit her and causing Sloth to let out a shriek of pain.

"Try that again and you'll lose more than a limb," Mustang said shortly. "You remember what happened to Lust? Or did she _not_ get burned to death where you come from?"

Sloth balked at that while Alphonse made a gasping noise of shock.

Liz took the opportunity to lunge forward and swung her sword at Sloth's chest while Sloth was still startled by Mustang's statement.

 _Shhiiin!—Kkkkrk!_

The spread of ice that resulted from the connecting slice caused Sloth's upper half to fall to the floor, ice slowly spreading up from the cut to Sloth's neck and down through the rest of her body.

Sloth let out a gasping choke. "H-how?"

"I've traveled a lot and picked up a few things," Liz replied. "That freezing the floor trick I learned from my sister."

"Your…entire family…."

"I'm the only one who uses water." There was a gleam in Liz's eye as the ice started overtaking Sloth's face. "My sister uses fire."

Blue electricity suddenly sparked in the ceiling, and Liz stepped to the side right before a brick from the ceiling slammed down over Sloth, shattering her into pieces and sending a red puff of dust into the air before it dissipated.

"Why did the homunculus you fought have to be like that?" Ed demanded as he took his hands off the wall. "Sloth was a giant muscular monster that dug tunnels all over Amestris – we're still finding tunnels that he'd left behind, damn monster."

Liz tapped her sword against the ice-covered floor, causing the water to melt out from where the sword's tip touched the ice.

"You're kidding," Alphonse said. "Sloth was – was a hulking _brute?"_

"That's besides the point," Mustang said shortly. "We have to keep moving. Wrath mentioned we have to find Envy and take care of him before we get to Pride. My double and Hawkeye's double might have run into him by now. We have to move quickly."

"Right," Ed agreed. "Which way?"

Mustang motioned with his head, then started down another corridor. Alphonse, Hawkeye, Ed, and Liz followed after him.

 **Hee hee. Writing them arguing about dimensional differences is incredibly amusing to me. :)**

 **I'll see you guys next time with the next chapter!**


	47. Transformers JLA part 5

**Third chapter of the week. :)**

 **kat151820 - I'm glad I got you to laugh at that bit! I was sticking for a good while after I managed to write those bits out, believe me. You know it was going to come up sooner or later.**

 **Shadescribe - to each their own, I suppose. I guess there's something about the older one that just appeals to you more, and I get that. I'm glad you like what I'm doing so far!**

 **Anyway, back to Matt and Joshua we go!**

 **Chapter 47 – Transformers/JLA, part 5**

"Are you sure about this?" Matthew looked over at Joshua as they stood on the streets of Metropolis. He was wearing his hero costume – the pants, anyway. He was wearing a plain black T-shirt and had decided against wearing the mask.

"I'm sure." Joshua stood next to him, a holographic disguise of a cobalt T-shirt and jeans over his armor. "In order to get to the bottom of this, I am going to have to talk to the man who started this interfering." He eyed the skyscraper that rose up in front of them, the "L"-shaped logo clear on the front of the building. "You didn't have to come with me."

"I haven't seen you fight yet and, knowing Luthor, he's probably got something in there specifically designed to knock you over the head like he did to Maria." Matthew squared his shoulders and looked up at the skyscraper for a moment longer before looking back at Joshua. "So. We're going to do this?"

"We're going to do this." Joshua nodded, then started walking forward towards the entrance into Lex Luthor's headquarters for his entire company.

A thought occurred to Matthew as they stepped through the doors. _"How_ are we doing this?"

"I slipped into Luthor's schedule and made him some time to have a little talk," Joshua replied casually. "We'll be able to get in without a problem, don't worry."

Matthew stared at Joshua as they made their way across the lobby to the secretary's counter at the other side of the main floor. He shook his head and chuckled under his breath. "You're turning into a real technomaniac, you know that?"

Joshua simply smirked in response and turned his attention to the secretary, who looked at the two of them with a rather odd expression.

"Can I help you?" the red-haired young woman asked, frowning.

"Yes; we're here to see Mr. Luthor on a few matters," Joshua replied casually. "I believe we're entered in as 'Langstrom and Carlsdale'?"

Matthew looked over at Joshua sharply at that as the young woman frowned and looked over at the computer screen at her desk.

"…yes, there is a Langstrom and Carlsdale here, but I hadn't thought—"

"Do you really expect young entrepreneurs who are interested in technological inventions to not catch Mr. Luthor's eye?" Joshua asked casually. "Trust me, we're expected."

The young woman looked concerned for a moment, then gave a slight nod. "All right. Take the elevator up to the thirty-second floor; he'll be meeting you there."

"Thank you." Joshua gave a nod, then turned and started towards the elevator. Matthew followed after him.

"You expected me to come along with you anyway, didn't you?" Matthew asked as Joshua hit the button for the 32nd floor.

"Considering that the last time any one of us talked to Luthor it ended up with your sister almost becoming assimilated, I thought that you would not be making the exact same mistake twice," Joshua replied casually. "Besides, it is likely that Luthor might remember you in some form."

"The only time I saw him was when we were pulling Maria out of his basement lab; I didn't see him at any other time."

Joshua blinked a couple times at that. "Hm. Well, I suppose that will simply make things a little more difficult. I don't doubt that we'll manage to get the information that we came here for, however."

"What makes you say that?"

Before Joshua could reply, the elevator came to a stop and opened into what looked like a rather elaborate office space. And sitting at a rather large, wooden desk, frowning at a computer and scratching his bald head, was Lex Luthor himself.

"This doesn't make any sense," he was muttering as Matthew and Joshua stepped into the room. "I didn't put time in my schedule for—"

"You might not have, but I have my reasons."

Luthor's head shot up at Joshua's voice, eyes narrowing sharply into an annoyed, angered expression. "Who are you, and how did you manage to get up here?!"

"I am a friend of Flare-Up's, if you must know," Joshua replied casually, causing Luthor's eyes to widen sharply at the name. "And this is her older brother." He motioned to Matthew who gave a curt nod in greeting, eyes fixed on Luthor as the man's eyes turned to him. "We came here because we wanted to talk to you about something of the utmost importance." Joshua lowered his head slightly as his expression went from neutral to something a little more dangerous. "We're here to talk about the Autobot-Decepticon War."

Luthor stared at the two of them for a moment before he quickly regained his composure. "If you think I have anything to do with that, you're sorely mistaken." He adjusted his suit and tie, more than likely an excuse to keep his hands busy rather than simply letting them fidget. "I haven't dared to get involved in a war involving two alien races; what do you take me for?"

"Considering that you're the guy who goes after Superman every other week _and_ let Brainiac into your and Megatron's heads?" Matthew folded his arms across his chest and frowned, eyes narrowing. "I'd say you jumped right into it."

Luthor snorted. "Brainiac wanted to know more about the Cybertronians and used me to get access to them by using me to ask if they wanted to ally themselves with me. I doubt that you have any proof of there being anything otherwise."

Matthew gritted his teeth and started to answer when Joshua held up a hand in front of the young man's face, stopping him short.

"I think that you'll find that there may be some data in your databanks that you can never get rid of," Joshua said casually. "Especially when everything you have is backed up on multiple servers automatically and it's hard to say when something is really gone for good – like, for example, the artificial Vehicons you commissioned to be built long _before_ the Autobots and Decepticons even so much as remotely crossed your path on purpose – whether actively from you or from them."

Luthor stiffened at that, eyes widening at Joshua's words. After a moment, he sighed irritably and slumped down in his chair a little. "And what exactly is it that you want from me, boy?"

"I want to make sure that you didn't do anything with Grod or Megatron in order to ensure that the two of them met," Joshua replied casually. "Considering that their war is only going to escalate and cause danger to the human race while it remains here, I would have thought that, as a philanthropist, you would have done something in order to help them restore their planet rather than continue the war as it is and destroy this one in the process."

Matthew could practically feel the burn on his skin from Joshua's words as Luthor's face turned into the scowl that he usually had on his face when he was going up against Superman and had lost horrifically.

"A blow to my pride? Is that how you plan on getting the information from me?" Luthor asked. "I have faced worse than this; don't expect this to be easy."

"I don't." Joshua raised an eyebrow. "Considering that you've had Batman come into your room in the middle of the night just to stare at you aggressively and leave without so much as saying a word, I will never be able to top that."

Luthor stared at Joshua. "How did you – I have never been—"

"Your track record says otherwise." Joshua stepped forward and put his hands on Luthor's desk, leaning forward a little. "We're not here to talk about that, however. In fact, I'm not even here to talk to you."

Luthor snorted. "Then what are you even doing here?"

"I'm here to talk to Brainiac."

Luthor paused at that, blinking a couple times out of confusion at the statement. "What makes you think he's here?"

"His signature is all over the programming in your network, I wouldn't be surprised if you kept him on after Maria completely demolished his assimilation programs. How you managed to keep him on, however, is the question, considering that he cannot enter any machine that was not specifically built to house his consciousness."

"I should hope that you aren't body sharing," Matthew said, frowning. "That was disgusting when you had Kryptonite cancer."

The reference to the cartoon that Matthew and Maria had watched when they were younger caused Luthor to look at him sharply with an expression of alarm. "How did you know about that?!"

"That's besides the point," Joshua replied. "I need to talk to Brainiac; if there's a chance that he left some subconscious thought in Megatron's mind that is keeping him here instead of using Shockwave's processor to restore their home planet to life."

"What makes you think I am the one who is giving him such thoughts?"

Matthew and Joshua turned at the metallic-accented voice and caught sight of a green-skinned man in a purple jumpsuit standing next to a bookcase near the elevator.

"That portion of my programming has been damaged beyond repair; I am incapable of entering or influencing minds." The man walked towards Joshua and Matthew, eyeing them both with glowing blue eyes that were ice-cold and void of emotion, just like his voice. "Any influence I might have had disappeared when I was ejected from them."

"But there is some influence," Joshua responded.

"Yes, from a force greater than I. I sensed it, but it seemed amused by me and let me remain."

"I bet I know who," Matthew muttered.

Joshua looked at him with a guarded expression while Luthor frowned, confused.

"Then we're on the same page," Joshua said. "Because I was considering the exact same situation, if Brainiac was not the source of the subconscious thoughts."

"Then why did you come here in the first place?" Luthor snapped.

"Because I needed to confirm that you weren't the source of the issue," Joshua replied without missing a beat. "However, that doesn't mean that you're off the hook. Expect me to come back for more information concerning the being Brainiac sensed, or if I find any technology that is being used in the war that has your fingerprints all over it." He turned and started towards the elevator.

Brainiac stepped in font of him. "You're not human, that much I can sense. What reasons do you have for assisting the Cybertronians in the end of their war?"

Joshua inclined his head. "Because I know them, and I see them as family. And they see me as family. What other reason would I have?"

Brainiac paused, then stepped back and let Joshua and Matthew have access to the elevator. The two of them then stepped in and punched the button down to the ground floor without so much as a hint of resistance.

"So it's more than likely he's being influenced by the monster at the center of the Earth," Matthew summarized, looking over at Joshua. "Now what?"

"Now, we talk to Optimus about getting the AllSpark and get Ratchet the information he needs to build the Omega Lock," Joshua replied. He paused. "Out of all the Decepticons, who would you say would be the most likely to see reason?"

"What?" Matthew turned his head sharply to look at Joshua in surprise.

"The Decepticons came to you to talk to you about Megatron when Brainiac took over, didn't they? Which ones reached out?"

"Uh…Knock Out and Soundwave? Why?"

"I'm going to need to get into contact with them and warn them." Joshua looked at Matthew with a determined expression.

Matthew stared at Joshua with an incredulous expression. "You're serious. They've got Shockwave with them now – do you really think it's gonna be easy?"

"No. But that doesn't mean that I'm going to simply stand by and let Unicron eat Megatron's brain out and turn him into a shell to be used as his harbinger of death." The elevator doors opened, and the two of them strode out into the lobby…

…only to be met by a man in an expensive suit standing in the middle of the lobby.

"What do you two boys think you're doing?" Bruce Wayne asked, raising an eyebrow.

"Confirming something," Joshua replied without missing a beat. He walked past Wayne without so much as a second glance, Matthew trailing after him. "Luthor isn't the problem; the problem is a Cybertronian one. Specifically having something to do with the thing that nearly tore the world apart when Matthew was last here."

Wayne started following after them. "What makes you say that?"

"Considering that he's been running on the monster's blood since the start of the war, that makes him a drug addict, and that need to rely on it causes him to be tied to the monster that is giving it to him in the first place." Joshua stepped out of the building and onto the street. "We need to find a way to disconnect the two."

"And how do you suggest we do that?" Bruce Wayne's friendly tones dropped a few octaves to a more dangerous growl.

"In order to do that, I need to talk to his chief medical officer and get Ratchet working on hopefully putting something together that will bring their planet back so that they can get off before the monster at the center of the planet decides to make his move." Joshua looked back at Wayne. "We have an end of the world scenario on our hands, and I don't know how much time we have left before Unicron tears this world and Cybertron apart with Megatron's hands."

 **...Uh oh. Sounds like we got a bit of a nasty thing coming. Let's hope that Matthew and Joshua manage to find a way to stop it before that entire dimension is lost.**

 **I'll see you guys next week with the next chapter! We're about halfway done with Liz's and Matt's arcs now, so not too much longer with these two before we get to the second-to-last arc!**


	48. Fullmetal Alchemist Mashup part 6

**We're back with Liz's side of things. Heh heh.**

 **Shadescribe - Yup. Unicron is definitely bad news. And no harm done on the FMA anime comment - really! It's fine; I completely understand how one thing would be better than the other. The stories are both completely different and really make me intrigued, so I'm sort of in-between on the matter, since they both like to pull your heart in multiple different directions at once. XD**

 **Anyway...**

 **Chapter 48 – Fullmetal Alchemist Mashup part 6**

It turned out that Envy wasn't all that hard to find.

It _also_ turned out that Wrath didn't like what was going on one bit.

"I told you, I'm not supposed to –"

 _WHAM!_

"I've had it up to here with your whining!" came a sneering voice down the corridor as a younger, familiar voice cried out in pain. "Look, you think you can just go and be with your _mommy_ again and completely ignore Dante? Well, you've got another thing coming, you little demon!"

Mustang motioned for Hawkeye and the others to come to a stop a short distance away from the end of the corridor they were making their way through, a dark expression on his face.

"I don't want this!" Wrath burst out.

"Well, you don't have a choice!" the other voice snapped in reply. "In case you haven't noticed, _she_ brought us back from the dead and would rather we stick around and help her get the other half of the stone back from that old man! So get back to work on finding a way up to the surface, you loon, or else I'm gonna wring your neck and consume you myself!"

Wrath whimpered as Alphonse's hands tightened into fists.

"Envy," Alphonse growled under his breath.

Ed gained a similarly angered expression.

Liz tightened her grip on her sword as other footsteps sounded down the corridor, paused for a second, then broke out into a dead run.

 _Snap!_

 _BOOM!_

A blast of flames suddenly went lashing down the corridor ahead of Mustang and the others, followed shortly by twin shrieks from Wrath and Envy. As the flames cleared, Roy and Riza suddenly rushed past the main group, determined glares on their faces.

"Hey, Palm Tree!" Roy snapped.

"Oh-ho, so the Colonel's come to play!" Envy's voice sneered. "What, do you want to die just like Hughes did?"

The silence that fell over the corridor was deafening.

Then…

 _Snap._

 _FWOOM!_

Envy shrieked again, and there came the sound of scrambling metal and Wrath's yell of pain.

Hawkeye reached up for Mustang's shoulder. "Do I need to—"

"I've got it under control," Mustang replied through gritted teeth. "Ed, get in there. Alphonse, take care of Wrath. The rest of us will calm my double down."

Ed and Alphonse exchanged looks, nodded, then bolted into the corridor while Liz's grip tightened on her sword and the blade became covered over in water again.

"Let me make the first move."

Mustang was about to say something against it, but Liz had already dashed around the corner after Ed, Alphonse, Roy, and Riza, then swung her sword and sent a wave of water down the corridor and into the group of combatants that were about to slam into each other.

Roy tried to snap his fingers again and failed to get so much as a spark as Ed quickly encased Envy in rock from the floor and walls of the corridor. "What the –" He turned sharply and glared at Liz with his remaining eye, an anger burning in his eyes that made him look like a wild animal ready to tear someone apart more than anything else. "Why did you do that."

The question came out more as a growled statement, causing Liz to stiffen defensively in response.

"You keep going down that path and I'm going to fulfill the promise I made to you back when you were starting on the path to becoming the Fuhrer of Amestris," Hawkeye replied. "You don't want to do this, Mustang. Envy isn't worth it."

"Even if he just admitted to killing Hughes?!" Roy motioned wildly to Envy, who was struggling against his rocky bonds with an expression of annoyance on his face.

"Revenge isn't the way you want to go about this," Ed snapped. "You're stooping low enough that I can smack you in the face for it!" He turned and glared at Roy, who glared back sharply with his one eye.

Liz remembered that line – although it had been said a little differently, these were clearly similar circumstances.

Wrath whimpered from where he was leaning next to Alphonse, looking more worn and tired than he had when they'd run into him before Sloth had arrived. "I just…I want to go back to Mama…."

"Well, _you're_ mama's dead, in case you forgot!" Envy sneered at Wrath. "Dante pulled us back from the brink to get the Philosopher's Stone back, and I'll be damned if I—"

 _Snap._

 _FWOOM_

"EEEEYAAAAAA!"

Liz winced back in alarm and disgust, quickly covering her eyes and averting her face as Envy's skin was suddenly burned off, only to grow back just as quickly.

"You have no right to talk," Mustang said coldly, lowering his fingers as Liz looked back at what was going on. Mustang's voice didn't have the bite that his double did, but there was definitely some anger there. "Especially considering the other you killed Hughes, as well. Do you want to know how he died?"

"Mustang," Hawkeye said warningly as Envy glared back at him.

Ed clapped his hands together and slammed them against the floor; Envy suddenly found his head squished as a result of the stone slamming into him on either side.

"Alphonse and Liz said this guy was Hohenheim's kid," Ed said darkly. "One he had with Dante. He's not gonna listen to us and say that he wants to be like us and kill himself."

Roy stiffened at that while Mustang made a noise that sounded like he was suppressing a rather nasty curse.

"It looks like they're running low on energy, too," Liz spoke up, causing them to look back at her as Envy attempted to reform his head. "Right, Riza? They don't look like they'd actually be as much of a problem to finish off as…as they were before."

The memory of how surprisingly easy it had been to freeze Sloth and drop a brick on her head in order to finish her off flashed through Liz's mind from moments before.

"Sloth had been too easy. I bet their bodies are…are still working from how they were before the worlds got merged together," Liz added. "That's why their easier to hurt and immobilize than the other ones."

Mustang and Roy looked at each other at that, appearing surprised at the revelation. Ed blinked a couple times as well, appearing confused before realization dawned on his face. He looked over at where Envy was stuck in the rock and gained an odd look when he saw that Envy wasn't regenerating as quickly as he probably should have been, and he hadn't been able to break his stone prison, either.

"I guess that means we can just leave him to bleed out," Ed commented, looking Envy over. He looked over at Alphonse and Wrath. "Now to just take care of him and find this Dante before she does who knows what else – like bring back Gluttony or something. Gluttony is still some kinda fat bottomless pit, right?"

Alphonse nodded as Wrath shuddered.

"I just want to be with Mama," Wrath murmured.

Ed gained an odd look at that.

"I can get you there, but we have to get to Brother first," Alphonse replied. "You know where they are, right? You can get us down there?"

Wrath paused, a hesitant expression on his face. Then he nodded a little. "Okay. I-I can get you there." He slipped away from Alphonse and motioned for them to follow him down the corridor.

"Are you sure we can trust him?" Mustang asked. "He's a homunculus – he could be leading us into a trap for all we know!"

"He's Izumi's kid," Liz replied quietly, moving past Mustang and Envy, who was still attempting to reform as his body struggled against his rocky prison. They _really_ must have been weak – Envy would have broken out and torn their heads off by now if he wasn't. "And Izumi died where he comes from, so…."

Mustang's eyes widened at that as Roy, Riza, and Hawkeye stared at Liz with wide-eyed expressions before exchanging looks.

"Teacher's…" Ed looked over at Alphonse as Wrath stopped a short distance away and looked back with an expectant expression. "Teacher's _dead?_ "

Alphonse nodded a little. "Her lost organs…they…."

Ed's expression shifted, he looked like he was about to say something, but then he shook his head. " _My_ teacher is still alive. And I'm going to be too. Let's go get your brother back." He clapped his hands and slammed them into the stone that was keeping Envy in place; it twisted into a rather elaborate cocoon the promptly squeezed itself into a tight spiral of stone as Envy let out one final shriek before a blast of red dust slipped through the cracks and dissipated into the air.

Liz felt a little sick. "This is too easy."

"Yeah, that's what I'm thinking." Ed stepped back from the spiral of stone. "Envy should've gone giant monster by now."

"Giant monster?" Alphonse repeated. "Envy never – not unless you count the giant dragon that the Thule Society used to make a gate between their world and ours but—"

"The two Envys are different," Liz said. "That doesn't mean that we can let our guard down. I'm definitely not going to be letting my guard down around anything that can get to be as big as Bahamut…."

"Baha-what?" Roy repeated.

Liz shook her head. "Nevermind. Let's just find Dante." She started down the corridor towards Wrath.

"How do you know so much?" Wrath asked, looking a little wide-eyed.

Liz hesitated for a moment, then shook her head. "I see things," she said finally. "Saw things, but none of that matters right now. You're gonna help us rescue Edward, right?"

Wrath nodded. "I didn't want to come back; I wanted to stay with Mama. But…something caused us to come back. I don't know why, but I don't like it."

Liz frowned. "Something caused you? Yeah, that…doesn't sound good." Her frown deepened. "I don't like this…something bad's going on, and it's not just Dante and what she's done to Edward. I still don't know how…how these worlds could have merged together. I'm not getting any answers just by thinking, but…."

Ed seemed to know where Liz was going. "We are _not_ performing human transmutation just so you can talk to Truth."

"Who?" Alphonse asked in confusion.

Liz stared at Ed. "How did you—"

"I know that look. And if you know about our world, then you know about what happens when you go down that way. You _don't_ want to mess with Truth." Ed poked Liz in the chest, glaring at her. "Do _not_ do that."

"Truth? What are you talking about?" Alphonse repeated.

Ed turned slowly and stared at Alphonse with wide eyes. "You don't know about Truth? But you did human transmutation."

"Yeah, and I met the Gate Children, not someone called Truth. Who is that?"

Ed looked like he was about to answer, then shook his head. "Nevermind. It doesn't matter. Let's just get this over with before anyone does anything stupid." He turned and started toward Wrath, who started moving down the corridor again. The others followed after him.

Alphonse moved next to Liz. "Who's Truth?"

"The god of your universe," Liz replied. "Or Ed's, anyway."

Alphonse stared at Liz with wide eyes. "What? You want to meet—"

"I don't _want_ to, but I think I might _have_ to," Liz hissed in reply. "I'm not getting anything about why your world and his world have merged together and why some people have two sets of memories and why some people have doubles of each other. If worse comes to worse…." She trailed off and bit her lower lip. "I don't want to. I really don't. But I'm not getting any visions that are hinting at anything going on other than what's already happened." Liz tugged at her hair absently. "I just…I need answers so that I can know how to keep something else like that from happening or reverse what's happened so that you guys can go back to your separate worlds."

Alphonse's eyebrows came together in a concerned expression while Ed and the others exchanged looks.

"Still, you shouldn't," Ed said seriously.

"Do _you_ know of any books here that have anything on interdimensional theory?" Liz snapped back. "Or know anything about identical worlds merging together? You people haven't even invented the television yet, let alone gone to the moon! And the only people who I could talk to about it are back home in another dimension and I know for a _fact_ that _Maria_ hasn't run into anything like this without there being a known reason _in-dimension_ for it and I doubt that Mom and _Dad_ have, either!"

Liz's bursting exclamation caused the group to come to a stop again and stare at her with odd expressions.

"That doesn't mean that you can just go straight to Truth in order to figure out what's going wrong," Ed hissed back. "You are going to _lose_ something."

"You mentioned visions," Roy said. "Maybe there's one coming."

Liz gained an uneasy expression at that, and she sighed and shook her head. "I hope so. I really, really do."

 **Oooh boy. There's definitely something else going on here.**

 **And yes, while the Pokemon/Sonic world Maria knows about _is_ a merged dimension, it's not _two alternate universes_ that merged together _without any explanation._ Maria got an explanation from Dialga and Palkia, and it was a sound one. Nobody got two sets of memories, and nobody got doubles of themselves. Here, though, that happened. But why...?**

 **You'll have to wait a bit for that answer, because next time we're getting Matt and Joshua again!**


	49. Transformers JLA part 6

**What? I'm not posting on a Wednesday?**

 **That's right. Because I'm upping the chapter posting schedule from three to four because _I am still 20 chapters ahead of you._ It's good for me because I'm almost done with this, but you guys need to catch up. Seriously.**

 **Shadescribe - Indeed, indeed; Truth is not a person that you want to meet, but someone that you might end up being forced into contact with. Here's hoping that whatever is going on won't require that...but I do know what's coming...**

 **Speaking of which, here's the next chapter!**

 **Chapter 49 – Transformers/JLA, part 6**

"You want to _what?!"_

Ratchet's roar of anger caused Matthew and the others – except for Ultra Magnus and Optimus Prime – to wince back from the medic with uneasy expressions on their faces.

"No! You do realize that you are suggesting placing yourself in a situation where you could very well be taken hostage by the Decepticons!" Ratchet continued. "Optimus, we cannot allow this! They are considering placing themselves in a situation where—"

"I am as aware of the possibilities as you are, old friend," Optimus responded gravely, cutting Ratchet off. "I am also aware of what could take place if Megatron is being used by Unicron and will continue to do so until it is too late for us to stop him."

"What about rebuilding the Omega Lock?" Bulkhead spoke up. "That's…pretty doable, right?"

Ratchet huffed and ran a servo across his helm. "In order for that to work, I would need to finish the Synthetic Energon formula _properly,_ and the Predacon CNA on top of that! I doubt that Predaking would be willing to even donate so much as a sliver of CNA, and I don't have the lab materials I need in order to replicate enough of the CNA for me to be able to use it!"

"I'm sure that I might be able to convince them with the promise of leaving them alone when they arrive on Cybertron's surface," Joshua said. "That's how it's done in our dimension; I'm sure that some negotiation between Optimus and Predaking might lead to some form of a compromise when it comes to that. They are directly connected to the planet, after all; I cannot see why they would not want to assist us in some form."

"And the Decepticons?" Arcee pointed out.

"They were willing to speak with Maria before. I think I might be willing and able to…convince them that I am someone who should be listened to." Joshua moved his hands behind his back. "If I can get into contact with them."

"No." Ratchet shook his head vehemently. "You are _not_ placing yourself in that kind of danger!"

"I am Jolt's lab assistant in my dimension. Working in dangerous situations has become something of a usual event for me." Joshua appeared unfazed by Ratchet's yelling. "I have also faced personally a world that has had time and space turned on its head and the emotion, knowledge, and willpower drained from almost every living being that a certain monster came into contact with. I know what being forcibly transformed from human to mechanical feels like – I'm sure that my cousin would argue that it nearly killed me, and considering the process, I would be inclined to agree if my essence had not been left intact."

The base fell silent at Joshua's words, the Autobots exchanging guarded looks while Jack, Miko, Raf, and Nurse Darby exchanged uneasy expressions.

"I am capable of defending myself," Joshua continued. "Just because I am smaller than a Mini-Con does not mean that I am any less powerful than a Cybertronian."

"Mini-Con?" Miko repeated in confusion.

"How did you—" Ratchet shook his head. "That doesn't matter now. The point is that you should not be allowed to—"

A yellow portal suddenly opened up in the side of the base, causing the smaller humans to stumble back in surprise as Batman strode out of it, cape flaring.

"Aura Seeker." The Dark Knight nodded to Matthew. "I have a mission I need you for."

Matthew blinked in surprise. "What, now?"

"Yes, now. I doubt that you have anything better to do." Batman strode over to the two of them, brow furrowed through his mask.

"Go on," Joshua said. "I'll take care of things here. There are other things that need to be done."

Matthew frowned at that. "What are you going on about?"

"Trust me. I know what I'm doing." Joshua looked at Matthew with a determined expression. "Go take care of what you have to; I'll get things started on here."

Matthew hesitated, then gave a slight nod. "All right. I just hope that we manage to get things taken care of before they escalate any further."

Joshua nodded in response. "I know."

"Are you finished?" Batman asked. When Matthew nodded in reply, Batman turned and started back towards the yellow glow of the Boom Tube. Matthew followed after him, and the two of them quickly disappeared from sight.

"Now that Matthew's gone – Ratchet, if you were to gain access to a laboratory with the proper equipment, _would_ you be able to direct the building of the Omega Lock?" Joshua's brow furrowed as he looked up at the medic.

Ratchet snorted. "What makes you think that _I_ would be able to? I am a medic and a scientist, not an architect!"

"Why rebuild it when we can repair the old one?" Bulkhead spoke up. "I mean, all we have to do is figure out how it works and—"

"Try to figure out how a relic from the time of the Primes functions?" Ratchet let out a snort. "Impossible."

"Not as impossible as you might think. Shockwave managed to succeed in rebuilding it from scratch in our dimension; I have no doubt that it could be repaired in some way." Joshua reached into his subspace and pulled out a USB drive. "I think you'll find that I copied his plans, so even if we are unable to find a way to repair the original, it is possible to build a copy wherever we might need it to be – in the Decepticon's case, on the underbelly of their ship."

"Whoa…."

"You're saying that you want us to build something Cybertronian in order to restore Cybertron," Nurse Darby said. She folded her arms across her chest. "Are you sure that you want to use all those materials and technology in order to do that?"

"If it means getting the Cybertronians off the planet so that you don't have to worry about them destroying your world even more than it already has been by the villains of this world?" Joshua responded. "Yes."

"You do realize that you're suggesting we gain access to a large amount of technology – which the people of Earth aren't going to see again."

"I know," Joshua replied without missing a beat. "The Decepticons stole from the government in order to make use of human technology; considering that we are widely known to be on the planet, it could be possible for us to do the same legally. I know that is going to be immensely difficult, but I don't see why it can't be done."

Nurse Darby folded her arms across her chest. "You also realize that the kind of power I have compared to Fowler's is pretty limited. I don't have the connections or influence he has in order to make this happen."

"I don't expect you to; you are a nurse first and a liaison second, after all."

Ratchet looked between Joshua and Nurse Darby with increasingly exasperated expressions. "You can't be serious. You are actually planning on moving forward with this?"

"These two kids have provided more proof that the war can be ended and that you can bring your planet back to life than I've seen from the rest of you," Nurse Darby pointed out in reply, fixing Ratchet with a stern look. "I'll see if they can supply the materials – if not, see if you can procure them from the Decepticons." She looked back at Joshua – specifically, the USB drive that he'd pulled out of nowhere. "Are you planning on helping?"

"To the best of my ability," Joshua confirmed. "This is something that I'd like to see finished – or, at least, see it started while the war itself is finished. I can only guess that what Batman will be having Matthew do will be in some form connected with what is going on as well."

Ratchet snorted. "And what makes you believe that?"

"Probably something to do with the fact that Batman has found a lead concerning Grod and his goals. In that case, it might be wise to move quickly in case any Decepticons decide to make their move in the meantime. For now, however, I would like to know if you would, in fact, be willing to start work on the Omega Lock before the Decepticons even realize what exactly it is that the materials they have at their disposal is capable of."

Joshua's statement caused the room to fall silent and the others to exchange looks. Optimus sent a particularly pointed expression in Ratchet's direction.

"I know how much you wish to restore Cybertron, old friend," Optimus said finally. "As we have been given the opportunity to do so, I don't doubt that we could, in fact, find ourselves steps ahead of the Decepticons in that regard."

"I am more than aware of that," Ratchet replied moodily. "But I do not have the materials that I need!"

"Let me worry about that," Joshua replied. "I'll help you with what we need to do in order to make the Synthetic Energon formula complete. Then I'll talk to the Predacons."

Ratchet looked hesitant.

"Are you certain we can trust this boy to negotiate with…with barbaric—"

"Joshua has shown great experience and calm when speaking with the Predacons," Optimus replied, cutting Ultra Magnus off. "As much as I dislike placing anyone in situations where they could end up being harmed, it is clear that Joshua is aware of the stakes and what is required of him."

Ultra Magnus frowned at that. "We are still going to be watching you from a distance, whenever you come into contact with these… _Predacons."_

"I would expect nothing less," Joshua replied without missing a beat. "Now let's get to work. The Lock isn't going to build itself, and certainly not without a working Synthetic Energon formula." He started over to where Ratchet stood in front of the computer monitor. "Let's do this."

 **Space Break**

"I'm sorry, you want us to do _what?"_

Batman gave Matthew an annoyed glare, causing the young man to duck his head a little in response. The Dark Knight simply shook his head a little in response.

"You are going to be infiltrating Gorilla Grod's hideout – reconnaissance _only._ As we are not completely aware of what it is that he and the other criminals are planning, we need to know what it is that we are up against. Nightwing." Batman nodded to his former sidekick.

"Grod's chosen lair location is pretty predictable," Nightwing said. "He's below the gorilla pen in the local zoo. We need to get in, find out what he could be up to, and get out. Matthew, as Aura Seeker we need you to keep an eye out for anyone who might spot us – zookeepers and anyone else in the area might be secretly working for Grod; use your ability to watch for them and distract them if you have to."

Matthew nodded. "All right. Guard duty; I can do that."

"Static, Gear, you two will infiltrate the computer systems using a data mining virus. Destroy the computer systems when you have taken the data in the systems."

"Got the virus right here." Gear held up a USB. "All we gotta do is find a plug and we're good to go."

"And an EMP is no problem!" Static gave a thumbs-up.

Nightwing nodded in response. "Good. Miss Martian and I are coming with you as mastermind and to help keep your minds cloaked. Grod has extensive mind control technology and knows how to get into others' minds – I know of your immunity to it, Static, but that doesn't mean that you can't take advantage of some extra defense."

Static shut his mouth at that, blinking.

"You ready?" Nightwing looked around at that group.

Matthew and the others nodded in response.

"Good. Let's go." Nightwing motioned for them to follow him over to the Boom Tube entrances, activating one of them and stepping through. The others followed after him and came out on the edge of Central Park.

"Watch your step," Nightwing said. "There could be guards under Grod's control everywhere. Miss Martian, find a safe place to stay hidden. Don't let yourself get caught."

The green-skinned young woman nodded, then her entire body flickered and faded from sight. If Matthew focused his aura, he knew that he'd be able to see her clearly, but he decided against it.

Nightwing motioned for them to follow him, then took off at a run through the trees. The others followed quickly, Static and Gear remaining on foot and exchanging looks that seemed to say that they were extremely unhappy with the idea that they couldn't fly over the park to the zoo.

Matthew fingered a lump in an sewn-in-pocket in his left glove, wondering for a moment if he should break it open. Then he shook his head and followed the others to the fence that surrounded the zoo.

Finding a place between a couple cages, Nightwing grabbed at the fence and vaulted over it. The others quickly followed suit.

"Split up, find the entrance," Nightwing directed. "We have to move quickly. Matthew, is there anyone nearby?"

Matthew closed one eye, his other flashing a brighter, more electric blue. Instantly, his gaze flashed to hues of blue across the spectrum, pulses of electric blue expanding out from where he was standing. Nightwing and the others near him lit up with electric blue auras, but he was able to see past them as well.

"I'm not seeing anyone nearby now, but that doesn't mean that there isn't anyone else hanging around." Matthew opened his eye again and looked over at the others.

Nightwing nodded. "Move out."

"You got it!" Static grabbed Gear and took off down one path, heading towards the gorilla habitat in one area of the zoo.

"We're taking another route." Nightwing started down another path; Matthew followed after him at a swift jog.

"What are we looking for?" Matthew asked.

"Any sign of Grod's presence; we know he's here, but we're going to need a lot more confirmation than just an electrical surge of power under the gorillas," Nightwing replied. "Gear and Static are smart; they'll find the entrance into his base. We're going to get in by another route."

"And what do you suggest?" Matthew responded.

"You've gotten pretty good at heavy hitting. Let's see how good your powers are at causing some havoc up here." Nightwing gained a sly, smirking expression.

Matthew did a double-take. "Are you saying we're _bait?"_

"We need to give them time. What better way than to make some noise?"

Matthew blinked a couple times at that before grinning. "Okay. I could go for that. Where do we start?"

As if to answer him, Nightwing grabbed a small number of pellets from his utility belt and tossed them into a nearby cage. The smoke pellets exploded instantly, and the parrots that were living within the cage started squawking and crying out at the tops of their lungs.

"It's just water vapor, they'll be fine," Nightwing said dismissively. He was grinning widely, however.

The sound of running feet from somewhere in the zoo reached their ears quickly, causing the grin that had been on Nightwing's face to disappear pretty quickly. Matthew instantly closed one eye and activated his Aura Sight again.

"We've got a five people coming this way," Matthew warned. "It's like they came out of nowhere, and there's something off about them too."

"How off?"

"There's flickers of…something else—"

The blue auras Matthew was tracking suddenly turned a corner, appearing in front of Nightwing.

"There they are!" Five men dressed in uniforms that looked like zoo security uniforms stopped for a moment at the end of the path, then lunged at Nightwing and Matthew at once.

Matthew ducked a punch and danced back defensively, Aura Sight still active as Nightwing rushed at the opponents. He noticed that there was something flickering around their foreheads that wasn't supposed to be in their auras.

"Whoa!" Matthew ducked another punch, then clenched a fist and slammed it into the officer's chin, causing him to fall back and hit the ground. "Something's up with their heads."

"They're probably being controlled by Grod," Nightwing called back. "You must be seeing whatever he's doing to them!" He grabbed two officer's heads and slammed them together, causing them to collapse and leaving two officers still standing.

"How do we reverse it, then?" Matthew responded. He jumped back as one of the remaining officers tried to stick a knife in him before he chopped at the man's elbow before sweeping his feet out from underneath him. The man's head collided with the stone path a moment before the other's did.

Nightwing relaxed out of the martial arts pose he'd taken, having kicked the man in the chest and pushed him down instead of sending him flying into one of the other cages. "Hopefully getting their heads knocked around will knock something loose and help them get back to their senses. Or we could just get Megan to do something, but that will have to wait until we take care of the rest of this mess." Nightwing started moving again, running in the direction that the zookeeper officers had come from. Matthew followed after him, staying in step but remaining a little behind the Gotham hero.

More footsteps were heard; Matthew's still-active Aura Sight located a number of figures coming their way.

"There's a hidden entrance near the lions!" Matthew pointed over to a habitat a short distance away from them, where another group of five officers was coming from.

"Then that's going to be our entrance!" Nightwing barreled right into the next group of officers, knocking the wind out of one before quickly finishing off the rest and going for what looked like a shrub that was planted at an angle on a metal plate that was sticking up in the air, clearly showing off the trap door that was underneath it. Nightwing disappeared down the open passageway below, Matthew quickly following suit.

"How do these guys _do_ things like this?" Matthew asked after landing on the ground in what appeared to be a white corridor. "I've never really been able to wrap my head around the fact that these guys get to run around and spend so much _cash_ on making bases that aren't noticed _at all_ by everybody else. It's ridiculous!"

"I've just stopped trying to question it," Nightwing replied dryly. He looked around for a moment, then started down the hall and away from the dead end that they'd dropped into. "If anything, my guess is that this place used to be a bunker from the Cold War that Grod repurposed, so watch your step."

"Right." Matthew followed after Nightwing, moving quickly. Blue aura pulsed through his still-active Aura Sight. "It doesn't look like there's anyone else ahead of us here; that's a little odd."

"Grod doesn't like humans," Nightwing replied. "He's going to keep them as far away from him as possible, even though he's controlling them."

"Well, yeah, but I would have thought that he would have tolerated them at least a little when…when they're like that." Matthew didn't want to think about what was going through the mind controlled men's heads. Maria would have been terrified by it and would have gunned ahead to take out Grod as quickly as possible if she knew about what was going on.

Matthew was a little more willing to take a little more of a calm approach.

"Static and Gear better have gotten to the computers by now." Matthew frowned. "Does that mean that—

 _BZZZP!_

The lights flickered suddenly, but neither Matthew nor Nightwing stumbled out of surprise. There were shouts of surprise coming from somewhere down the corridor, however.

Matthew caught sight of bright purple flashes hidden in the ceiling. "Looks like Static's making his move."

"Looks like it," Nightwing agreed. "They'd better have the information we need."

"Gear works fast; he _should_ have it." Matthew caught sight of a large flash of brighter blue up ahead. "Incoming!"

"I see them! Turn your sight off for a moment."

Matthew blinked, the bright blue glow of aura fading slightly and allowing him to see more than just shades of blue.

So he caught sight of the big hulking gorilla that was starting to come around the corner and down the corridor they were in.

"Oh scrap." Matthew came to a stumbling halt as Nightwing shifted into a defensive stance, ready to leap into action at a moment's notice.

The gorilla's eyes narrowed, and the large mammal let out a large bellow before it started running towards them on all fours.

Matthew reacted instantly, throwing his hands back as they became covered over in blue fire that didn't produce any heat of their own. Then he thrust his arms forward right before the gorilla could have collided with him and Nightwing.

Matthew's hands hit the gorilla's shoulders. "Double Force Palm!"

The resulting blue flash from the flames jumping from Matthew's hands onto the gorilla. The flames quickly changed to electrical shocks, causing the gorilla to let out a yell of pain before falling over, its limbs twitching and spazzing.

"Temporary paralysis," Matthew explained. "It should hold it still for now – let's find the others and get out of here."

Nightwing nodded, then moved past the gorilla quickly, Matthew following after him as the gorilla growled and tried to move to intercept them, but the mammal wasn't able to move.

"How did you get your Aura to do that?" Nightwing asked.

"Do you know the Pokémon games?" Matthew moved to keep in step with Nightwing as they turned the corner and moved down the corridor that the gorilla had come from.

"Heard of them, never played them."

"My powers mimic some of the moves from there, so I picked up a trick or two from their movesets."

Nightwing's eyebrows rose. "Hm. How strong do they get?"

"Well, I've improvised a few things." Matthew grinned. "Maybe I'll get a chance to show off."

"Hey, guys!"

Matthew looked ahead and caught sight of Static and Gear coming towards them down the corridor.

"We gotta move, now!" Static yelped. "There's a whole bunch of gorillas coming this way and every single one of them is absolutely _mad._ "

"We've trashed the computer systems and there's a countdown to every single one of their backup generators going out!" Gear added. "Let's hightail it before we're locked in!"

There came a loud bellow from somewhere down the corridor; Matthew and Nightwing exchanged looks before looking back at the other two.

"Let's go." Nightwing turned and ran back the way that he and Matthew had come; Matthew and the others quickly followed after him.

"What did you do to set them off?" Matthew asked.

"Look, those things were probably short-tempered to begin with, gettin' that Grod guy ordering them around on top of it probably makes them even worse off, man!" Static complained. "All we did was come in and mess with the data! We didn't even go _near_ where they live!"

"I think we might have," Gear spoke up nervously.

Matthew felt a blast of breath on the back of his neck as they reached the trap-door entrance that he and Nightwing had come down through. He turned around quickly, arms coated in blue fire in seconds before large blue spheres were blasted from his palms and into the face of the lead gorilla.

The resulting reaction was for the gorilla to roar in pain and fall back, causing a tumbling halt to the stampede.

"Whoa." Static's jaw dropped as he stared from halfway up the ladder. "How did you—"

"Aura Sphere." Matthew backed up, watching the gorillas for any possible further movement. "It'll keep them down, but not for long. Let's get out of here."

Static and Gear exchanged looks, then quickly scrambled up the ladder to where Nightwing was already outside. Matthew watched the gorillas for movement a moment longer, then followed up after them without a word.

 **Heh heh. Looks like Matthew got a little action and Joshua is getting into moving the Autobots towards the end of the war in their dimension. Next chapter...back to Liz!**


	50. Fullmetal Alchemist Mashup part 7

**Third chapter of the week! Next one's going up on Friday!**

 **Shadescribe - Ha! Yeah, they definitely would have thought that the comment was more than a little bit nuts. Everything that's happened to them up to this point - and in the future - are so out of this world that I doubt they'll be able to get back to that "normal" time, either. They'd get too bored with it.**

 **Anyway, here comes the next chapter!**

 **Chapter 50 – Fullmetal Alchemist Mashup, part 7**

"You're sure they're in there?" Roy nodded to the large set of double doors ahead of them. "Looks like the doors into a church."

"These weren't here before," Mustang muttered, frowning. "At least, I don't think—"

"They weren't." Liz stepped forward and put a hand against the stone doors, frowning at the seemingly-intricate carvings of seven people bowing to a single figure in the middle of the two doors. "Not to mention these do not look like something that should be _on_ the doors of a church; more like the doors to a cult or something."

Ed snorted. "Wanna bet this Dante put it together?"

"That's her in the middle." Alphonse nodded to the woman standing in the center of the bowing seven figures. "So…I think so."

"Well." Ed cracked his fingers. "That's stupid. Looks like she's got no sense of style." He clapped his hands together and slammed them into the doors, causing Liz to jolt away from him in surprise as electricity sparked over the doors, causing the carving that was there to melt into the door before being replaced with carvings of gargoyles and strange, gothic monsters. And in the center of the doors was Ed, standing tall over everything else, one hand held up and an almost maniacal grin of triumph on his face.

"Whoa." Alphonse stared at the doors as Ed stepped back, wiping nonexistent dust off his hands.

"That's impressive," Riza commented.

"That's usual," Hawkeye corrected dryly.

"All right." Ed looked over at Alphonse. "You ready to get your brother back?"

Alphonse nodded, his eyes narrowing as his hands clenched into fists. "Are you ready? Dante – she can kill you."

"Pfft." Ed waved Alphonse off. "That Bastard who called himself Father – not Hohenheim, some other guy – could have done that, and we finished him off easy. We got this."

Alphonse hesitated, but then Mustang and Roy stepped forward.

"We just need to keep Pride's shadows in check," Mustang said. "I've seen Truth, I'll be able to do more than Patchy here." He jabbed a thumb at Roy, who looked at him sharply. "She won't be expecting that."

Hawkeye pulled a gun out from her holster; Riza did the same.

"We'll have your back." Hawkeye nodded to Mustang, who nodded back.

"Wh-what about me?"

Liz turned and looked back at the nervous voice of Wrath, who stayed back behind the main group, appearing nervous. He was leaning against one of the stone brick walls, looking between the members of the group, eyes wide and face pale.

"You can help if you want," Ed scoffed. "I'm not gonna tell you what to do." He turned to look back at the door, hands on his hips. "So are we going in or not?"

Wrath stared at Ed with wide eyes, looking uncertain. After a moment, he pushed himself away from the wall and moved forward. "I'll help. Dante took Mother away from me. She shouldn't get to do something like this."

The others exchanged looks at that – all except for Liz, who nodded in response.

"All right, Wrath." Liz looked at Ed. "Let's do this."

Ed blinked a couple times when he saw the narrow-eyed glare that Liz had on her face, then smirked and turned towards the doors before cracking his knuckles. "Yeah." He put his hands on the doors and pushed.

The stone doors opened inward on well-oiled hinges, which was a bit of a surprise considering the material they were made of. On the other side was a pipe-lined room that looked like it had seen better days; the ceiling high above their heads had cracks in it and looked like it could collapse at any moment; there were scorch marks on the ground and dents in the earth that something had left behind, and the pipes were all rusting and dented, appearing as though they were going to fall apart at any moment.

And in the center of the room, standing under what appeared to be a shaft of light from one of the cracks in the ceiling, was a young woman with dark hair and an expression that only seemed to hint at the amount of annoyance that was hidden underneath. Sitting on the ground next to her was a blond young man wearing an outfit similar to Envy's, only his exposed stomach and arms were covered in intricate red tattoos. His eyes, although their normal gold color, were glazed over and appeared to be staring at absolutely nothing.

"Brother!" Alphonse called out.

"That didn't happen to Ling," Ed muttered as Dante eyed the group with an indifferent expression.

"So, there are more than one of certain people," Dante commented casually. "I had suspected that something would happen when I followed through on my end of things, but I didn't think that this sort of thing would end up taking place as well. Interesting."

"What are you talking about?" Mustang demanded. "And who are you?"

"That's Dante," Roy muttered.

"Hohenheim's ex? Seriously?"

"I think that you'll be taking me a lot more seriously in a moment," Dante replied. She raised her hands; something red sparked on a ring that she happened to be wearing on her right hand. "Pride, dear, could you take care of your brother and his replacement for you? I doubt that the rest will be able to handle going against me for long." A dry grin appeared on her face. "After that, we'll go up to the surface and see about finding Hohenheim."

"You're not going anywhere near Dad!" Alphonse yelled as Pride rose to his feet. "Wrath, give me some help!"

"R-right!" Wrath moved to stand next to Alphonse as Ed glared down his double with an expression of determined disapproval.

"I know Ling was able to fight through his control, why isn't…." Ed shook his head, then clapped his hands together and slammed them into the floor abruptly at the same time that Dante snapped her fingers.

Liz slashed her sword in front of herself sharply, bringing up a wall of water just seconds before a blast of flame came flying at them. The resulting contact caused a loud blast of steam to erupt. At the same time, the ground under Pride's feet suddenly buckled, causing Pride to stumble as his eyes widened slightly.

"Give us cover!" Mustang barked as he and Roy moved at once. Hawkeye and Riza quickly followed suit, pulling out their own weapons and starting to shoot at Dante.

Then the shadows at their feet _moved._

A large black wall suddenly sprung up, catching the bullets before they could hit Dante. Multiple red eyes opened along the wall at random intervals before mouths opened, revealing sharp, triangular teeth that made the shadow almost appear hungry.

"You can't touch me," Dante said with a confident sneer.

Something in the air shifted, and Liz instantly plugged her nose. "Gah! We can sure smell you, though!"

"What the – that's _her?"_ Ed looked at Liz with an incredulous expression.

"Jumping from body to body means kicking the original soul out; Dante's living in a walking corpse, and it's decaying on her." Liz removed her hand from her nose, looking disgusted as her sword became covered over in water again. "Wanna bet she's using the stone to try and keep on going for as long as possible?"

" _That_ is wrong," Mustang said as the shadow wall dropped, revealing the fact that Dante was holding onto her side. Her jaw was set and the color in her face was slowly draining as she glared at the group. "And she did this with Philosopher's Stones?"

"Yup."

"Disgusting."

Dante's lips drew back, revealing her clenched teeth before she snapped her fingers and made a flinging motion with one arm, causing a wave of water to materialize out of thin air and be sent flying straight at them with red electrical sparks. "You _dare_ to insult me?!"

Liz's sword started glowing brightly in response to Dante's attack, and she swung the blade in order to meet the wave of water that was coming at them.

Mustang clapped his hands and slammed them into the ground, bringing up a wall of stone that stopped the water before it could hit him in the face. "Ha!" The confident tone in his voice clearly gave away the fact that he was grinning with a great amount of confidence. "You won't be getting me wet anytime soon!"

At the same time, Liz's blade connected with the water, and the glowing power that was pulsing in the water-covered blade pulsed through the entire wave before causing it to be sucked into the blade.

"Water Absorb!" Liz exclaimed, triumphant. "Yes! I finally got it to work!"

Dante stumbled back a step in surprise. "What in—"

"Eat this!" Liz spun forward, then slashed down with her sword. The resulting wave of water quickly turned to ice and would have collided with Dante were it not for the fact that another wall of shadows appeared in the attack's path.

Twin blasts of fire from opposite directions a moment later also did nothing against the wall, which only seemed to _eat_ the fire with smug grins and gleaming red eyed that seemed amused by the attempt.

Liz gritted her teeth. "This isn't getting us anywhere."

 _"RAAAAAH!"_

Liz turned her head in alarm as Mustang and Roy continued to throw fire around, catching sight of Wrath gunning for Pride.

Pride hardly flinched; a shadow-like scythe suddenly rose up from the floor in front of him and sliced Wrath in two from top to bottom. Blood spewed up in all directions as Wrath's two halves, fell to either side of the shadow blade.

"Wrath, no!" Alphonse yelled, a terrified look crossing his face. He closed his eyes and clenched his fists and teeth tightly before he glared at Pride with a spark of anger in his golden-brown eyes that made him look so furious that it made Liz wonder if he and the kind-hearted young boy who loved to find cats and keep them in his armor were the same person.

 _"Edward!"_ Alphonse slammed his hands together and _slammed_ them into the floor beneath their feet.

The resulting earthquake caused everyone to stumble in surprise; the shadow walls that had formed trembled as the shaft light above their heads flickered as the shaking made its way up the walls and into the ceiling. There came a groaning sound from above, and Liz looked up just as the shaft of light that had been there was sealed shut, leaving the group standing in darkness.

"Glad you came to the same conclusion that we did, Al," Ed said with tired relief. "One problem."

"You could have _warned_ me that you were going to make it so that we couldn't see!" one of the Mustangs yelled. "I hope you know what you're doing!"

"Shut up, Colonel!" Ed shot back.

"Afraid of the dark, are you, Mustang?" Dante called teasingly. "Why don't you… _shed some light_ on our present situation, hmm?"

"Don't!" Ed barked back. "You do that and we'll all be caught in the shadows!"

"I read the report, Fullmetal, you don't need to tell me what to do!" Mustang barked back.

Dante huffed. "Well, if you won't… _then I will."_

Red sparks started flying from the center of the room; a circle started forming in the center of the floor as a result of it, causing everyone in the room to freeze.

Pride, standing on the edge of the circle as it quickly gained intricate symbols inside it, turned and stepped away. Something in his face flickered, as though he was experiencing some emotion, but it was gone into a blank expression mere moments later, before most could take notice of it.

"You all will form my next Philosopher's Stone!" Dante exclaimed triumphantly as she stood in the center of the circle. "Prepare yourselves for—"

 _"No!"_

If Liz was sure of anything at that point in time, it was that she wasn't thinking as much as she probably should have been. Because the only two thoughts on her mind where _Stop Dante_ and _human transmutation circle._

Suddenly, she was lunging at Dante, everyone was yelling at her, and the last thing that Liz saw clearly was Dante's shocked expression as Liz's sword came close to impaling her before everything turned white.

The next thing Liz knew, she was standing in front of two large sets of double doors. Next to her was Dante, holding onto her side and wheezing as the stench of a corpse rose from her waist.

And in front of them, with a grin that was stretched far too wide on a face that had no other visible features, was a white figure that nearly blended into the white void that Liz was now standing in.

A chill ran down Liz's spine.

"What are you?" Dante demanded. "Where is this place?"

The laugh that came out of the figure's mouth made Liz shudder. It sounded like _hers_ and _Dante's_ and many other people's mixed together into an eerie unison that sounded like one voice and many at the exact same time. **_"I believe that the World Jumper is more than capable of explaining what exactly it is that I am."_**

Dante turned to look at Liz sharply as the teenage girl swallowed nervously, eyes wide. Her hands shook; _where was her sword?_

 ** _"Go on, Elizabeth Carlsdale,"_** the figure said in an almost mocking tone.

Liz swallowed nervously. "Y-you're me, and her, the world, and the universe. Some call you God. Some…some call you Truth."

Dante looked confused at that. "Truth? That can't be – there was never any creature called—"

 ** _"There always was, there always is, and there always will be,"_** Truth replied, its chorus of a voice taking on more of Dante and less of everyone else. **_"Are you ready to face your truth, Dante of the Deep Forest?"_**

 **Uh oh...Liz, what have you done?**

 **You guys'll have to wait two chapters in order to see what her fate is - next time, I'll be posting more from Matthew's side of things! I'll see you then!**


	51. Transformers JLA part 7

**No, I'm not posting this chapter on Friday. That's because I'm getting a blizzard that day and I don't know whether or not I'm going to end up losing wi-fi as a result of it. So, I figured I'd just post this a day earlier than I'd been originally planning, rather than a day later.**

 **Thanks for the Follow, SabaraOne!**

 **Sabara - Heh. "Screwed" might be an understatement, but it also might be a false conclusion. We'll have to see when I post the next chapter next week.**

 **Shadescribe - Yup. In trying to stop Dante, Liz accidentally did the one thing that she wasn't supposed to. Here's hoping that she comes out OK.**

 **Anyway, here's the next chapter with Matt and Joshua!**

 **Chapter 51 – Transformers/JLA part 7**

"There's gotta be something wrong with Megatron."

Soundwave paused in his work, then turned his helm slowly to look over at Knock Out. _"Brainiac is – no longer – there."_

"I know that, but that doesn't mean that he still isn't acting oddly," Knock Out replied. "Not like he's some kind of spark-eaten puppet, but I bet that he's pretty close. Do you have any idea about that?"

Soundwave stood still, considering Knock Out's words. His claws hovered over the console in front of him, as though planning on doing something but not sure whether or not to follow through on it.

"Come on; at least tell me that I'm just being overly paranoid or something about this." Knock Out reached out imploringly towards Soundwave with his own clawed servos. "Everybody's been all over the place since that whole maniac virus thing; maybe I'm just imagining things or—"

Soundwave brought his claws down onto the keybord that was connected to the monitor in front of him, bringing up archives of visual footage for the last few months. All of Megatron, specifically his _eyes._

Knock Out stared at the monitor set up, then looked at Soundwave, who turned his helm to look back at the medic. "You've been thinking the same thing."

Soundwave nodded slightly.

Knock Out moved closer to the monitors, frowning. "Why are you focusing on his optics…wait. Is that…?"

Soundwave nodded a little, then zoomed in on one of the archived feeds. There was a flash of a color that definitely _wasn't_ supposed to be in a place that it hadn't been seen for a while.

Knock Out sucked in a burst of air, creating a whining noise in his vents. "You have got to be kidding."

Soundwave shook his helm slowly.

"What are we going to do, then? We've got a problem!"

Soundwave cocked his head to one side slightly, and his blank mask flickered before a voice came out of nowhere.

 _"Your boss isn't what he seems to be – don't respond, don't hang up, just listen. I'm a friend of Flare-Up's. The computer virus that was running around in your minds isn't capable of doing that anymore, but there is something else that is causing some trouble. Do you remember when Megatron allied with the Autobots in order to stop the monster at the center of this world from tearing it apart from the inside? He isn't as dormant as he appears to be, and he may be planning on using your leader as a mouthpiece. I'm not entirely sure as to what needs to be done in order to stop the connection, but know that we are working on projects that will be helpful for both sides in the long run. All I ask is that we find a way to end the war without having more Energon spilled."_

Knock Out blinked a couple times at the message. "Sounds like some human adolescent. One of those Justice League hatchlings?"

 _"No match with Young Justice,"_ Soundwave replied. _"New voice."_

"All right. Then what does this guy have to do with Flare-Up and what's going on with all this?" Knock Out frowned. "This kid could be playing tricks on us."

The same voice came from Soundwave again. _"I'm Flare-Up's cousin. You haven't met me, and the Autobots don't know that I'm contacting you. Sparkseer and Shape-Change let me know your private comm number. I won't tell you anything else but this: Aura Seeker and I are here to help settle everything that is taking place here; I ask that you give us some help in stopping Megatron. His actions are going to destroy this world and take you with it."_

Knock Out blinked a couple times in surprise at the second audio clip. "Sparkseer and – but nobody's heard from them since—"

 _"Sensed portal. Received this."_

"Portal? What are you talking about?"

Soundwave turned and faced Knock Out directly. _"Alternate dimension."_

Knock Out blinked a couple times, then snorted. "Yeah, right. Like someone from an alternate dimension would be able to pull something like this. What kind of—"

Soundwave moved to stand in front of Knock Out and stare down at the grounder. _"Flare-Up, Aura Seeker, and I come from an alternate dimension where we were part of the events that ended the war. We know what force is presently manipulating Megatron. You need to stall him; prevent him from being able to do whatever it is that he's planning. We'll do what we can to restore Cybertron and bring the war to an end on our end. Do what you can to end the war on your side, and_ stop Megatron."

Knock Out blinked a couple times, looking uncertain. Then his mouth straightened into a thin line, and he nodded. "Stalling. Yeah, sure; we can do that. Just get Starscream up in one of his rages again and see if he feels about trying to off Megatron – again."

 _"Shockwave,"_ Soundwave said in Megatron's growl.

Knock Out's expression faltered. "O-oh, right…we'll have to think of something for him. Now that those Predacons are out doing who-knows-what he's probably planning on making more." He paused, and a sly, knowing smirk crossed his face. "I think I've got it. You go get Starscream up into one of his rages; I'll take care of the rest." He turned and slipped out of the room and down the corridor, smirking to himself.

Soundwave watched him go for only a moment, then turned and went back to his work at the monitors.

He needed to see how far back those purple flashes started, just to be certain that Megatron hadn't been influenced by this darker force for long.

 **Space Break**

"I just got a message from the Predacons."

Everyone in the base turned and stared at Joshua with disbelieving expressions.

"You can't be serious," Raf said. "I've been monitoring – there's no way that they would have been able to get a signal in here without me noticing!"

"I have my ways." Joshua gave Raf a knowing expression.

While Raf stared at Joshua with wide, disbelieving eyes, Optimus Prime knelt down to get a closer look at the Reploid.

"And what, exactly, did they say?" Optimus inquired.

"Predaking wants to meet with me, you, and Ratchet in two days; he'll let us know where." Joshua paused. "He said he wanted to offer his help, which is something that I didn't think that he'd say so soon."

"So soon?" Ratchet repeated. "You were _expecting_ him to offer us assistance?"

"Not after only the few days that we've been here; I would have thought that we would have needed to say something or do something that would have caught their attention." Joshua frowned and folded his arms across his chest. "The fact that they willingly brought this forward without any of us saying anything is…certainly curious."

"And troublesome," Ratchet muttered. "Those Predacons are going to be nothing _but_ trouble, mark my words. I don't care that they're an ingredient to whatever it is that is needed to make an Omega Lock work, I still don't think they can be entirely trusted."

"At this point in time, Ratchet, if we are to restore Cybertron, it is more than likely that all of us – Autobots, Decepticons, and Predacons – will need to band together in at least some form." Optimus rose to his full height again. "You will inform us where it is that the Predacons will request that we meet them?"

"Of course," Joshua replied with a nod. "I'll let them know you're willing to meet with them." He stepped back from the others and moved to a corner of the hidden bunker of a base that didn't have anything in it.

"Are you sure that trusting what Joshua's doing is a good idea?" Raf asked as Joshua retreated from what people thought was his hearing range. "I mean, Predaking tried to _eat Miko._ I don't know if we could ever trust them."

"I don't know about this, either, but it looks like he knows what he's doing." Jack frowned over at the corner Joshua was now standing in, eyes closed and his left hand covering his ear, as though he was making a half-hearted attempt to block out the sound that was going on in the rest of the base. "Matt trusted him enough to bring him along, and Maria probably trusts him, too."

"Probably," Raf repeated. "I can't help but feel like he's hiding something."

Ratchet snorted. "Considering that he hid the proper formula for Synthetic Energon from me until he was sure that I was able to find a way to replicate it on my own, I wonder if he is hiding things in an attempt to teach us lessons or see if we can come up with the solutions on our own."

"That boy is far too calm," Ultra Magnus added from where he was sitting on a nearby berth, cleaning one of his handheld guns – to the humans, it may as well have been an energy cannon. "Speaking with the enemy in a tone that suggests he is familiar with them, on top of storming the stronghold of one of our allies' greatest enemies? I wonder if that boy has any sense of preservation left in him."

"I have a sense of preservation in me in that I have not set foot into any place that I know I would be placed in a life-or-death situation." Joshua lowered his hand from his ear as everyone turned to look at him sharply. "I _am_ a Reploid. Advanced everything sort of comes with the territory when one is transformed from organic to mechanical." He walked back towards the others. "The Predacons want to meet us in the Rocky Mountains up by the border to Canada; I have the coordinates ready for when we go see them in two days."

Optimus nodded in response while Ratchet snorted.

"Did they say anything about why it was that they wanted to meet?" Arcee asked, frowning.

"Predaking might be more in-tune with the nature of the universe than some might have been first been led to believe," Joshua replied. "He knows there is something going on with Megatron and Earth and wants to stop it before it can overtake Cybertron as well."

"How can he tell that?" Ratchet asked, frowning. "He's a beast, he can't—"

"Animals on Earth can sometimes tell when there's something going on that isn't supposed to be," Raf spoke up. "When Unicron was starting to wake up, a lot of animals were trying to flee to places where they might be safe for longer than they would have in other areas. Some people have said that there are animals that are still nervous after what happened."

Ratchet frowned at that, still seeming uncertain.

"It did feel a little weird," Miko commented. "Like…like there was a big storm that was coming and we really needed to find somewhere safe."

"All beings have that danger sense in some form; it's just that humans are less likely to act upon it," Joshua explained. "It would make sense that the Predacons, who have beast-like forms, are more willing to listen to their instincts and react to them accordingly."

Ratchet huffed while Optimus inclined his head at that before nodding slightly.

"And as for the fact that I am too calm in the face of what appears to be danger, you should know that it becomes rather difficult to have any sort of reaction to anything that appears to be life threatening when I've learned to carry technology with me that could very easily get me out of danger with little to no trouble at all," Joshua added, looking over at Ultra Magnus. "And besides – after being subjugated to an unknown length of time being forced to run tests because someone was unable to get into my mind, everything else seems slightly…duller, in some form. Because I know that very few threats are able to surpass Cyrus of Team Galactic when it comes to power and their present situations."

The Autobots present looked at each other at Joshua's comment while Jack, Raf, and Miko stared at Joshua with odd expressions.

"I thought it was just because you were getting future visions all the time." Raf pushed his glasses up, frowning a little.

"There is that as well, but I've learned not to put too much stock into them," Joshua replied. "When one can change the future, after all, what use is there in knowing only what could _possibly_ be coming?"

"It could _possibly_ serve as a warning in what exactly it is that we could avoid?" Ratchet suggested, fixing Joshua with an impatient sort of expression.

"That may be, but that doesn't mean I'm going to rely on them for every decision I make. Fate isn't something that is as set in stone as it seems to be, after all. A single action that I could take could cause me to obtain other visions from my Future Sight." Joshua paused. "Maria does get them as well, but because she receives them so rarely and so close to the present, hers are more likely to be truth."

"Like how she panicked right before she went and ripped Brainiac a new one?" Arcee asked dryly.

"Exactly." Joshua nodded. "Which is, in part, why she panics a lot more easily than I do."

Ratchet huffed.

"So what _have_ you seen, if you're so calm about it?" Jack asked, frowning.

"Considering that it is more than likely we will be able to do something to stop it before it takes place, I can see Unicron holding Megatron's mind in a rather tight vice, and using him as his mouthpiece. If we move quickly, we should be able to do something about Megatron's addiction to Dark Energon and prevent Unicron from doing so."

"How?" Raf asked.

"I'm not sure." Joshua frowned. "Disconnecting Brainiac from any one person is one issue that is more easily done than disconnecting someone from an entity that might as well be described as a demon. I am sure that one of us will…come up with something. But for now…." He shook his head. "I haven't got a clue."

 **Time Break**

Joshua squinted his eyes against the strong, cold wind that was blasting around, bouncing off rocky walls and into the metal figures who stood behind him.

"Why did they choose _this_ as a meeting place?" Ratchet grumbled, scowling at the mountainous area. "We barely managed to find a place where we wouldn't cause an avalanche just by walking!"

"The Predacons no doubt have their reasons for insisting on choosing this area," Optimus replied evenly. "We are far from a good deal of human civilization, as well as from our base and – undoubtedly – Megatron's."

 _Screeee!_

Joshua, Ratchet, and Optimus turned their heads sharply at the metallic cry that came from somewhere in the distance. A moment later, there came the sound of flapping wings, and a giant, draconic creature landed on the cliff in front of them before shifting and transforming.

Joshua bowed in greeting. "Predaking."

The leader of the trio of Predacons nodded in response. "You are aware of what is occurring with Megatron, then."

"We know what's affecting him, but we don't know how to stop him," Joshua replied. "And there is something else, as well."

"The restoration of Cybertron, yes." Predaking nodded. "You require something of us in order to accomplish this?"

"Indeed." Ratchet sounded uncertain. "According to what parts of the formula that Joshua has decided to reveal to me, we require a portion of Predacon CNA."

"We have most of the ingredients together; what makes you who you are physically is the last of what we need," Joshua added.

"As I have gathered," Predaking huffed. He looked down at his own claws for a moment, as though considering whether or not they needed to be sharpened anytime soon. After a moment, he growled out, "How much is needed, exactly?"

"Enough that I'll be able to replicate it," Ratchet replied. "Which means that, hopefully, I will not require all that much."

"Hm." Predaking looked at Ratchet with a lidded stare that made him appear indifferent. "I see." He looked back at his claws again before looking down at Joshua. "The Dark One is on the move. We have little time to intercept him."

Joshua nodded. "That danger is becoming even closer and even clearer."

Predaking huffed again. "We shall assist you in that. There is an item that your Prime knows of; it should be of some use to you. As for what you require of me…."

Predaking scraped his claws together, resulting in shavings of metal falling from his fingers and onto the ground near Joshua. The long, thin, sharp pieces of material were nearly half as tall as he was, but thinner than one of his arms.

Ratchet quickly snatched up the metal shavings before Joshua could get close to them. "Thank you. Now I can finally see about finishing this formula up."

Predaking gave a short nod in response. "I shall remain in contact with you if I require any of your assistance."

Ratchet spluttered at the comment as Predaking turned and transformed before leaping off the edge of the cliff in his draconic form.

"Predaking must have some sort of other agenda," Ratchet muttered, scowling.

"He is concerned over the fate of those under him," Optimus replied. "As the fate of Earth and, eventually, Cybertron, are in the balance, there is something that must be done in order to defend them both from whatever it is that Megatron has planned."

Joshua nodded in agreement, then frowned and cocked his head to one side. "Optimus, do you know what Predaking was referring to? About an item that you know about?"

Optimus frowned slightly at Joshua's question; Ratchet looked over at him with an odd expression. "That depends on whether or not what I am aware of will be useful."

"I believe it might be, depending on whether or not we are thinking of the same thing," Joshua responded. "Something capable of containing energy, perhaps?"

Optimus' optics widened at that; Ratchet frowned at the two of them.

"What are you alluding to?" Ratchet asked.

"Something that might be useful in the future, but I do not know if it will be useful in our present situation," Optimus replied. "Let us see if the technology of Earth will be capable of assisting us in completing what needs to be done for now; I will consult with Ultra Magnus on what further steps should be taken in order to halt whatever forces are moving against us, be they Megatron's twisted mind…or something far more dark."

Joshua nodded in response as Ratchet contacted Raf to get a Ground Bridge open. "Everything's coming down to the wire, now. Let us hope that we don't get any major roadblocks."

 **Hoo boy. Sounds like things are picking up even more now on this end...**

 **Next week, we'll see what happens with Liz! I'll see you then!**


	52. Fullmetal Alchemist Mashup part 8

**We're back to Liz's bit. :)**

 **Shadescribe - Yes, Joshua does seem to be nearly causing things to jinx whenever he speaks. Hopefully they won't end up that way.**

 **Heh heh. We are indeed going to see how things are going to go for Liz with Truth this chapter. :)**

 **Chapter 52 – Fullmetal Alchemist Mashup part 8**

"What is the meaning of this?" Dante snarled. "There was no creature guarding the doors here! Only those fowl black creatures!"

 ** _"I_** **am** ** _the Gate,"_** Truth replied. **_"I simply didn't think that you deserved to be aware of my presence. Considering that you haven't learned your lesson yet…I believe it is time that I stepped in. The Elrics are my Chosen. You do not get to decide their fates."_**

"Chosen?" Dante scoffed. "Chosen for what?"

 ** _"What would you be willing to bargain for that answer?"_** The way Truth worded the question sounded causal, but there was a bite to it that Liz didn't like the sound of. She carefully stepped away from Dante, looking between the white void of a being and the woman who had brought the two of them here in the first place.

"Bargain?" Dante repeated. "What makes you think that you can bargain with me?"

 _Bad move._ Liz swallowed and moved another step away from Dante.

 ** _"I do not think, Dante. I_** **know."** Truth stretched out a hand. **_"And you have taken from me without giving me anything in return for far too long. Hohenheim has returned his part of the bargain without argument. You, however, have been holding out on me. Your pride and fear of the embrace of death…I believe that I have found a way for you to repay me."_**

The door that was behind Dante creaked open slowly, causing the woman to turn and look back while still gripping her side. Multitudes of little black hands shot out as a single, large eye opened in the blackness beyond the door, causing Dante to let out a gasp of alarm at the sight of it.

And then the hands grabbed her and pulled her in as she let out a shriek, trying to scramble to grab hold of something. She reached out and tried to grab Liz, but Liz was already far enough away from Dante that the woman wasn't able to grab hold of Liz's arm.

"No!" Dante yelled. "I will come back! This is not the en—"

 **SLAM.**

The doors closed on her with a sense of finality to them, then that particular set of double doors disintegrated upwards into nothingness, disappearing into the void.

Liz swallowed, hands shaking a little. "Th-that's…oh, Primus."

 ** _"Interesting that you swear by that name, little World Jum-per."_**

Liz turned away from where the door had been a moment ago and looked back at Truth, whose voice sounded more like hers and less like Dante's.

 ** _"He is not your deity,"_** Truth continued.

Liz swallowed. "I-it's habit. My sister, she—"

 ** _"I know. I am Truth, World Jum-per. I know all."_**

Liz fell silent at that. She fidgeted under Truth's unseen stare, uncertain what was going to happen now. She squeezed her eyes shut tightly, remembering what had happened to Edward, Alphonse, and Mustang when they had done human transmutation – either willingly or unwillingly. "What now?" Her voice came out with a slight squeak to it, as though she was hesitant to even speak.

Truth _did_ have a bit of a sour reputation, after all; she wasn't exactly looking forward to the sensation of having a limb or a sense ripped from her.

 ** _"You like your family, do you not, World Jum-per?"_** Truth asked casually.

Liz stiffened at that, and her eyes snapped open at the question. "Wh-what?"

 ** _"People like you normally avoid coming here; I have to admit, they're quite good at it. But you…"_**

Liz felt like she could feel Truth's unseen gaze boring a whole through her and straight down to her soul.

 ** _"This is an opportunity for me to take care of something that I've been wondering about for some time. And I am sure that you will be more than willing to assist me."_**

Liz swallowed. "H-help you with what?"

 ** _"I'm sure you're already aware of what I need help with. Why else did you come here in the first place?"_**

Liz frowned. "I-I came because two worlds were coming together that weren't supposed to be."

 ** _"That is why I need you."_** Truth's smile faded into a grim expression that sent chills down Liz's spine. **_"There are creatures who are attempting to bring worlds together that should not be. They plan to bring more that should not be here."_**

Liz blinked a couple times at that, her eyes widening. "You mean… _more_ worlds are merging together?"

 ** _"You catch on quickly."_** Truth had a snarky tone in his voice.

"And you can't…can't stop them yourself? But – but you—"

 ** _"I am only_** **considered** ** _a god here, I am not_** **actually** ** _God. My powers are limited. With you here, however…."_** Truth's voice seemed to drip with _something_ that made Liz feel uneasy. **_"Perhaps you can be capable of assisting me, World Jum-per."_**

Liz swallowed. She wasn't exactly sure where this was going, but the fact that Truth was actively _asking for help_ meant that there had to be something going on that was even worse than she had thought. "How?"

 ** _"I think you already know. You have to sacrifice something for the knowledge that you gain in coming here. You have something that will be of use to me in order to keep them out."_**

Liz swallowed again, looking nervous. "You…you want my powers."

 ** _"Which ones?"_**

"The…the World Jumper ones?" Liz shifted her feet, wringing her hands. "The portals, the visions…that's gonna help? How?"

 ** _"Humans like you protect just as much as you keep balance. I should think that you should know that you can prevent further change from other places."_** Truth pointed at the giant doors behind Liz, causing her to turn and look back it. Her eyes widened when she saw what looked like a giant tree carved on the surface, with planets in its trunk, branches, and roots. **_"I am not looking to sever this world completely from the rest, but simply…make sure that it isn't involved."_**

"Involved in what?" Liz turned and looked back at Truth with an alarmed expression. She blinked a couple times as he looked at her before frowning. "You…you said there were creatures that were causing worlds to merge? Why?"

 ** _"Who knows?"_** Truth shrugged his nonexistent shoulders. **_"Domination of worlds beyond their own, no doubt. But who am I to care? My worlds need protecting, and that is all that needs to be said. So. Knowledge for your ability to travel?"_**

The doors started opening behind Liz with a slow groan; Liz swallowed at the sound.

Truth threw up a hand, causing the sound to stop short. **_"There is something else I see. You care for that Elric, do you not, World Jum-per?"_**

Liz jolted at the question, then remembered who it was that Truth was talking about. "Y-you mean, the one who's Pride right now?"

 ** _"Indeed. His soul sleeps. If you want him to return, well…"_**

"Are you saying that I have to give up something _else_ in order to get him to come to his senses?!" Liz's voice rose sharply. "Ling didn't need that!"

 ** _"Well, Dante works differently than the Dwarf in the Flask was capable of,"_** Truth replied. **_"I assume that you are aware of what she was capable of, World Jum-per."_**

"W-well, I knew she could body jump and wanted to live forever, _and_ that she needed to use Philosopher's Stones in order to do that…." Liz trailed off. "Did she…use it to do something to Edward?"

 ** _"You aren't as dumb as you look."_** Truth's mostly-Liz voice sounded horribly smug. **_"What is done with a Philosopher's Stone can be undone with equal sacrifice. Your skills to travel for knowledge of the world. But what else would you be willing to give?"_**

Liz hesitated at the question, biting her lower lip and looking away from Truth, trying to find somewhere else to look in the white void but finding nowhere else other than the doors with the tree and the worlds that were both behind her _and_ behind Truth. She decided against trying to think about how space was bending (and probably time, too), and instead focused on the problem that was in front of her.

 _What would I be willing to give up to rescue Edward…?_

 ** _"Tick tock, World Jum-per,"_** Truth said. **_"Time is of the essence."_**

"My water powers," Liz blurted. She blinked a couple times when she realized what it was that she had just said.

Truth cocked his head to one side, his grin fading a little. **_"What."_**

"My…my water powers," Liz repeated. "I'm getting Alchemy, right? So equivalent exchange. Water for Edward, World Jumping for alchemy. Somehow."

Truth said nothing. Then his grin slowly widened until it had completely overtaken the lower half of his unseeable head. **_"Excellent. Fully intending on adapting to this world, are you?"_**

"Well since you're taking away my ability to travel I don't see why not," Liz shot back. "You're asking me to…to cut myself off from my family. I'm gonna stick out like a sore thumb with this." She held out a hand and summoned her sword right there in the void. Something wet glistened on her cheeks, but Liz was focused on Truth too much to really notice. Her voice trembled. "Well, if you want to take my World Jumping powers, you can take the rest, too!"

With that, she threw the sword at Truth, blade first. It probably would have stabbed the void-figure through somewhere were it not for the fact that the sword _turned in midair_ so that the handle was flying towards Truth instead of the blade.

Truth plucked the sword out of thin air with a lazy sort of body language that suggested he had done it before, but Liz thought that he hadn't. **_"Very well. Good luck in your new home, Eliz-a-beth!"_**

With that, the doors behind Liz slammed open suddenly, and she was instantly grabbed and ensnared in a multitude of little black hands. She managed to let out a scream right before she was dragged through the doors, which slammed shut in front of her, leaving her in darkness…for only a moment.

Then came the blasts of light, the memories, the pounding headache that only continued to get worse…and the _knowledge._

 **Space Break**

The secret room under Central City had what appeared to be a small squad of men and women dressed in uniform when Pride – the Edward Elric Copy, as some were calling him – suddenly started thrashing against the bonds that were keeping him tied down to an observation table, screams ripping out of him as red-tinted electricity arched from his tattoo covered body.

"Wh-what's going on?!" the doctor who had been standing near Pride stepped back in alarm, eyes widening as the tattoos seemed to almost disintegrate into thin air. "Is he destabilizing?!"

Pride's eyes snapped open, suddenly looking sharp and clear as Ed's as he screamed _even louder,_ a single name blasting into the ear drums of every single person in the area.

"AL!"

Alphonse, who happened to be off in a corner of the room exchanging uncertain looks with Roy and Riza, turned his head sharply when he heard his name screamed out. He quickly scrambled across the room, a panicked expression on his face at the scream. "Brother!"

One of the officers tried to step in Alphonse's way, but he was pushed aside with very little effort on Alphonse's part and a lot of surprise on everyone else's. In an instant, Alphonse was right next to his bound-down brother.

"I'm right here, Ed," Alphonse said, gripping one of the handles on the side of the table and looking down at his older brother with an expression of concern.

Edward collapsed against the operation table, breathing heavily and covered in a thin sheen of sweat. He turned his head weakly to look at Alphonse, a tired recognition flashing in his eyes. "A-Al…"

A moment later, Edward's eyes fluttered closed, and he went limp.

While Alphonse stood over his brother with a concerned expression and a doctor came over to have another look at the unconscious blond teenager, there came a flash of light from a transmutation circle that had been carved into the stone floor, causing all activity in the room to stop and turn sharply to see what was coming.

Liz materialized suddenly in the center of the transmutation circle, landed on her feet, stumbled in an attempt to maintain her balance, then collapsed to the ground with a groan.

At the same time, the transmutation circle on the floor _cracked_ suddenly, breaks in the stone branching out from where Liz had collapsed and effectively breaking the pattern, rendering it unusable.

A rather large, muscular man with a blond mustache strode quickly over to where Liz had collapsed and lifted her carefully up in his arms. "Are you all right?"

Liz shifted a little at the question, eyes half-open and glasses askew on her face. She looked too tired to make an effort to adjust them, or even try to focus on the face that was above her. "'M just tired. 'M okay."

"I think the medical staff will be the judge of that," the man replied.

"…Armstrong…is..is Edward okay?"

The man – Armstrong – paused at the question, blinking a couple times out of surprise at the question having come up. "Edward?" He looked over at the Fullmetal Alchemist, who was striding towards them with a dark look on his face that looked like it could scare the dead. "Edward's fine."

"What did you do?" Ed demanded coldly, coming to a stop in front of Armstrong as he glared at Liz. "What did it take from you?"

Those standing nearby whirled their heads around at Ed's question; Armstrong stiffened.

"Well, I…I can't travel across worlds anymore. I can't go home." Tears started to leak out of Liz's eyes at the thought. "All my powers are gone. B-but he's gonna be okay now. The world's safe, a-and…and Edward is in control of himself."

Ed's eyes widened at that while Armstrong looked between him and Liz in confusion. "You can't be serious."

Liz shook her head. "I am." She yawned, and her eyes fluttered closed before she went limp in Armstrong's arms.

"What was she talking about, Elric?" Armstrong asked, frowning at Ed.

Ed didn't take his eyes off Liz for a moment. "That crazy—" He shook his head, gritting his teeth. "That has to be the biggest risk that I've ever seen anybody take! Truth only took her – I would have expected him to take off with her _heart_ and let her die of _internal bleeding,_ the bastard! Why did she get to be let off so easy?!"

The others in the room exchanged looks at Ed's outburst, appearing surprised at the unexpected piece of information from the young Alchemist.

Mustang walked over and joined them. "He's got to have a reason for doing so. Taking away her ability to go back to where she came from has to mean something."

Ed snorted, then turned and walked away from the rest of the group, folding his arms across his chest. If anyone dared to remain close to his path as he made his way to the ladder that lead out of the chamber, they would have heard him cursing Liz, cursing Truth, and cursing whatever else it was that happened to come to mind.

Armstrong motioned with his head to Mustang, who nodded slowly in agreement before motioning for Hawkeye to follow him towards the ladder after Ed disappeared from sight, and the two followed him up. Armstrong then turned to one of the doctors.

"I am taking this girl up to the hospital." Armstrong paused. "I would suggest that you bring them up as well." He nodded to Alphonse and his unconscious brother. "And make sure he isn't bound down to whatever bed you put him in."

"S-sir, are you sure that's—"

"Considering what I know already and what has taken place, I believe that we can trust him enough not to go on a rampage as soon as he awakens properly," Armstrong replied. "Bring him up. I'm sure his brother is more than capable of keeping an eye on him."

With that, Armstrong walked over to the opening up to the street above and, instead of taking the ladder, _punched_ the floor and caused the stone to rise, creating a likeness of his clenched fist and arm as it rose up to the world above.

 **Well, Liz got off easy and also didn't at the same time. Considering that she can't go home...**

 **We have two more chapters for Matthew and Joshua and one more chapter for Liz! I will be posting them this week, and then next week you guys are getting a chapter a day.**

 **I am going to be on Spring Break then, so I can pull a stunt like that, especially since I'm 18 chapters ahead of you guys.**


	53. Transformers JLA part 8

**Here's the second chapter of the week...and the last chapter in Matthew's and Joshua's story arc.**

 **Shadescribe - Yeah, Ed's mad because she didn't lose anything physical, but I think that'll get changed around behind the scenes. As for Liz eventually getting home...well, you'll have to wait and see. Considering that Amestris definitely does not have the technology for inter-dimensional travel, though, I don't know how likely it will be that she will get to see her family again.**

 **SabaraOne - Oh, you haven't seen evil yet, believe me. Liz has gotten past the nastier bits in her tale, but there are others who are going through some pretty bad things...and will end up going through far worse. I'd say that my Puppet AU story for Gravity Falls is my most nightmarish piece of work right now. Heh heh.**

 **Enough of that, though! We've got an arc to finish! Let's roll!**

 **Chapter 53 – Transformers/JLA part 8**

It took some time for Ratchet to be able to get the formula together, even with Joshua's help and his seemingly bottomless subspace pocket dimension.

It was a day later when Megatron to make his move and attempt to blow up one of the research facilities that the humans allied with the Autobots were working in. Something in the bombs was faulty, however, and there was a short note left behind by a certain Decepticon medic that seemed to hint at _why._

Ratchet was sending Joshua hard looks for a good two days after that particular revelation. Joshua didn't seem to mind, but then again, that was just how Joshua was.

Matthew, on the other hand, seemed to have a lot more cause for worry than Joshua did.

"Megatron is _still running around out there and we haven't really seen hide or hair of him and his Decepticons,"_ Matthew hissed at Joshua as they stood in the Autobot base. "We got Grod red-handed trying to steal from a nuclear power plant, but I still feel like Unicron is using Megatron to _do something._ You've got the formula completed and ready to go – why hasn't Cybertron been restored yet?"

"We still need the Omega Lock construct on Cybertron either repaired or replicated," Joshua replied. "Until then, our hands are tied. I can't do anything that might be able to speed things along – I've already done everything I can."

"Meaning that all we're able to do now is wait for them to get the jump on us," Matthew said flatly. "Do you realize how stupid that sounds?"

"Considering that we have no other choice? Yes, I am more than aware of it, but there is truly nothing that I can do in order to get the jump on Unicron _or_ speed up what is already taking place. We have the formula, now all we need it to reactivate or rebuild the Omega Lock – the latter of which is going to take much longer with just humans than with Cybertronians."

"Have you guys seen Optimus?" Miko asked as she approached them. "Because Magnus' ship is gone and he's not gonna tell us why."

Joshua and Matthew exchanged looks at the question, blinking a couple times out of surprise.

"Why'd Optimus just up and leave?" Matthew asked frowning.

"He probably has something in mind that we won't know about until later," Joshua replied. "Maybe something to do with what's already happened."

Matthew shot Joshua a look. "You don't mean that he's going after the All—"

"That's a possibility, nothing more."

"What are you talking about?" Miko frowned. "Is this another 'we know the future' thing?"

"More like 'this is something we know about because it happened in our dimension'," Joshua replied. "If Unicron is going to make any sort of move, it's no doubt that he's going to attempt to make it now, then, if Optimus is off-world and more than likely won't be back for some time."

"But how would tall, dark and creepy even _know_ that Optimus is gone?" Miko frowned. "I mean, it's not like he can sense it…can he?"

Matthew and Joshua exchanged looked at the question, Matthew frowning while Joshua's expression remained impassive.

"Optimus, as a Prime and as a Cybertronian, is essentially Megatron's opposite," Joshua said. "As someone who was more than likely chosen by Primus directly in order to _be_ a Prime, he could be counted as Primus' vessel, as Megatron could possibly serve as Unicron – and, at this point, may as well be. Taking that into account, Unicron has probably sensed that Optimus is on the move, and will as a result make his move quickly to make sure his plans succeed before Optimus returns."

Joshua's words caused Matthew's shoulders to stiffen up in a defensive manner, almost as though he was ready to lunge at the closest sign of movement – whether he was planning on lunging towards or away from the movement remained to be seen.

"We're sitting ducks," Matthew said flatly.

"Unfortunately," Joshua confirmed in a grim tone. "We can – gah!"

Matthew and Miko looked at Joshua in alarm as he suddenly doubled over, gripping his head and digging his fingers into his skull, gritting his teeth together and screwing his eyes shut.

"Joshua?" Miko asked cautiously.

Joshua groaned and dropped his hands from his head as he rose back up to his full height, shaking his head as he opened his eyes and looked around at the base's occupants, seeing the looks of concern on Miko's, Raf's, and Jack's faces, the frowns on the Autobot's faces, and the look on Matthew's face – the narrowed eyes, the frown, and the glimmer in his eyes that hinted at the fact that he knew there was _something_ that was going on.

"What did you see?" Matthew asked.

There came the sound of _something_ in the air and the entire base shoot for a moment before everything settled.

"Unicron is making his move," Joshua said grimly. "He's drilling into the ground up in Oregon, close enough to the San Andreas Fault that it's going to cause trouble."

"He _what?"_ Raf called across the room in alarm as the base continued to shake.

"That is going to cause massive tectonic shifts!" Ratchet exclaimed. "Who knows what sorts of damage is going to be caused as a result of—"

"Where is he drilling?" Ultra Magnus demanded.

Joshua spat out a string of coordinates, which Ratchet scrambled to punch into the Ground Bridge's controls before he activated it.

"Move, now!" Ultra Magnus barked.

Joshua grabbed Matthew's arm, causing the young man to let out a yelp of surprise as he was dragged through the Ground Bridge right before it closed behind them, placing them in the middle of a large forest.

Matthew yanked his arm out of Joshua's right hand just before Joshua clenched his fist tightly. The fist glowed brightly before seeming to disappear _into_ Joshua's arm, only to be replaced by an energy cannon of some kind.

Matthew recognized a Buster when he saw one. The weapon attached to Joshua's arm, however, looked nothing like a Buster and looked more like something from Cybertron – like a plasma rifle or something similar.

"What are you doing?" Matthew hissed. "I thought you said you didn't know what he was doing and suddenly you do?"

"My Future Sight is different from visions that World Jumpers get," Joshua replied. "Future Visions are definite and immediate. Future Sight is unclear and full of multiple possibilities. I consider myself lucky that I saw this one as a possibility and wasn't completely taken off guard by it."

"And was this a part of your 'future vision?"

Matthew and Joshua looked up at Ultra Magnus and the other Autobots, who was looking down at them with an expression of disapproval.

The ground rumbled and shook under their feet, causing Joshua and Matthew to stumble for a moment before they managed to regain their balance.

"The drill has to be close," Joshua said. "And in a way, it was, Ultra Magnus. But we have to move quickly to prevent what I saw form taking place – I can't let this world fall apart simply because of this single moment!" He looked around quickly, then pointed towards something beyond the trees, causing the others to turn in order to follow Joshua's gaze. "There!"

Matthew blinked a couple times at the sight of the large, giant purple machine that was starting to lower itself into the ground on four spindly, thin metal legs that didn't look like it should be able to hold up the machine's weight. "What the…how are we going to take that thing down?! It looks like it's as big as a skyscraper!"

"Bulkhead, Wheeljack!" Ultra Magnus barked. "Blast it into the sky!"

"With pleasure." Wheeljack rubbed his servos together, grinning darkly.

"I wouldn't do that if I were you."

The Autobots and their two smaller companions whirled at once upon hearing the nervous voice and caught sight of a certain red Decepticon standing on the other side of the clearing the Ground Bridge had opened up to.

"Knock Out!" Arcee summoned her blasters and pointed them at the medic.

"H-hey, I'm not here to fight!" Knock Out raised his servos quickly in a defensive maneuver. "There's a Dark Energon vein under that drill. You blast it, and the whole planet's gonna go sky high anyway!"

"And how am I going to believe that?" Arcee responded, optics narrowing.

"Matthew." Joshua nudged him with an elbow. "Your Aura Sight."

Matthew frowned at that, then nodded and closed his eyes. Blue aura filled the darkness behind his eyelids and instantly his vision was _filled_ with bright blue on all sides, causing him to flinch back in surprise.

"Gah, your Sparks are bright," Matthew muttered, squeezing his eyes shut more tightly as though that would help filter out the brighter Sparks.

Joshua – a darker blue aura pulsing next to him – grabbed his arm and turned him slowly as the ground continued to rumble under their feet. When Matthew had been turned around enough that he could face the drill, he froze.

"That's a _lot_ of purple," Matthew managed as he stared at the drill and the ground directly below it. The entire area was _pulsing_ with a dark, dangerous aura that sent chills down his spine. "There must be…a lot of Dark Energon nearby."

"I told you!" Knock Out sounded nervous as Matthew blinked rapidly, deactivating his Aura Sight. "You blow that thing up and the entire planet's eventually gonna go with it a lot faster than I think you'd like!"

Joshua started moving forward. "I'm getting in close."

"No!" Matthew grabbed him and pulled him back. "You get in there and that's stuff's gonna do who knows what to you!"

"Someone needs to get inside the drill in order to stop it," Joshua hissed back. "I'm small enough and I have the mechanical know-how." He pulled his arm out of Matthew's grip. "It's more than likely that there are other Decepticons nearby who are less than willing to warn us about what it is that Megatron – or Unicron – is up to."

"Spark, I doubt that it would be wise for a being such as yourself to come into contact with—"

"At this point we don't have a choice!" Joshua turned and glared up at the commander of the Wreckers. "I have to do this! Will you fight the Decepticons off or not?"

Matthew blinked a couple times out of surprise at Joshua's outburst. He hadn't expected Joshua to actually start to lose his temper at least a little. Whatever it was that Joshua was thinking, this was definitely serious.

Ultra Magnus blinked a couple times out of surprise at Joshua's exclamation; his optics narrowed a moment later. "I doubt that Optimus would allow you to even consider taking such an action. However, as he is not here and we do not have any other choice in the matter, I do not see why you should not. Autobots, root out any Decepticons that might be in the area and do what you can in order to prevent them from harming Joshua!"

Joshua was dashing across the clearing and through the trees towards the drill before Ultra Magnus had even finished speaking; the Autobots scattered a moment later.

Mostly.

"I'm sticking with you because I am not about to let you get hurt," Arcee said seriously, looking down at Matthew with an expression of disapproval. "Why Joshua decided to bring you here when it's going to get ugly soon, I have no idea."

"It was probably because of the Dark Energon," Matthew responded. "But when I see with Aura, usually I only see shades of blue, not _purple._ Either I'm picking things up from Sparkseer or that stuff just gives off so much…whatever it is that its aura is clearly a different color."

"H-how is that possible?" Knock Out asked from where he stood by the trees still. "A-are you some kind of Spark Reader?"

"We're called Aura Seers," Matthew replied without looking over at the medic. "But yeah. Sparkseer in my dimension's my teacher and partner."

 _"What?!"_

The ground buckled suddenly, causing Matthew to stumble. The sound of blaster fire zapped through the air, accompanied by battle cries from the Autobots.

"S-Sparkseer disappeared from Kaon near the start of the war!" Knock Out protested. "No one knows where he went! How could you have—"

"He's alive and well in my dimension," Matthew replied. He started to move towards the battlefield, but Arcee grabbed him and kept him from getting too far. "Hey!"

"You're not going anywhere near there," Arcee said seriously.

"Don't you want to see what's going on?" Matthew responded. He closed his eyes and activated his Aura Sight, once again blasting his vision with Aura. Past the trees – which were more of a dark blue-black – he could see the brighter blue-white of the Sparks of the Autobots, the purple of the Dark Energon beneath their feet and up in the drill, and the tainted purple-blue of Decepticon Sparks. He turned his head slightly and noticed that Knock Out's aura did have that purple-blue tint, but it wasn't as strong as the other Sparks that were fighting against the Autobots. "I can tell who the Decepticons are; they've each been tainted with Dark Energon – Knock Out doesn't have a lot, but he definitely has some in his system."

Knock Out shifted, a branch snapping under one of his feet. "You have got to be kidding me; there's still some left?"

"Something tells me that's never going to leave," Matthew replied.

The ground under their feet buckled again, causing the Sparks that Matthew saw on the other side of the trees to stumble for a moment before the blaster fire returned in full force and the ground stopped shaking.

Matthew saw the weak, sputtering aura fall out of the drill and bolted towards the battle. "Joshua!"

Arcee tried to grab Matthew to keep him from going any further, but Matthew's Aura Sight alerted him of the movement and caused him to speed up. "Matthew, don't!"

Matthew jumped over a fallen tree and jumped over a number of cracks in the earth that were coming from where the drill, now inactive and smoking, was stuck in the earth. Joshua was a short distance from it, trying to get up on his hands and knees.

Matthew came to a halt a short distance from the treeline as a blaster shot nearly took his head off.

"Get back, kid!" Wheeljack barked as he ran past. He slammed into a Vehicon and swung his blades, taking the Con's head off in a clean cut. "They were expecting us!"

Matthew frowned at that, then bolted again as Arcee and Knock Out came up behind him and nearly grabbed him again. He was instantly met with obstacles that included knocked-over trees and the large forms of the Cybertronians who were battling around him.

Bumblebee let out a buzzing noise as he stumbled over Matthew before sticking a blaster under a Vehicon's head and blasting the Cybertronian's face off.

"Sorry!" Matthew called back as he finally reached the drill. "I need to get to Joshua!"

He found Joshua leaning against one of the too-thin legs that the drill happened to be positioned on. It was still smoking, but at least it had stopped making a deeper hole into the ground.

Joshua looked up, one arm wrapped around his middle defensively. He looked pale, his hair sticking to the top of his head as though he'd just had a bucket of water dumped on his head. "Y-you C-Carlsdales really like p-playing w-with fate."

"Well, it looks like you do, too," Matthew shot back. His hands started sparking with blue Aura energy. "You've got Dark Energon poisoning. Lie down."

Joshua tried to move away from the leg of the drill, but then collapsed on his side and rolled over onto his back. "Wh-what are you—"

"Sparkseer said there was something we could do that could help get the Dark Energon out of your system, but you're going to have to open up." Matthew rapped against Joshua's chest plate, his hands now glowing a bright electric blue.

Joshua grunted, then shifted slightly. There was a soft _click_ , and the armor on Joshua's chest lifted up a little. Matthew slipped his fingers underneath the armor and lifted it up the rest of the way as Bulkhead threw a Vehicon into one of the sides of the drill above their heads.

"Okay." Matthew looked down at Joshua's exposed inner circuitry. He activated his Aura Sight for a second, and caught sight of a mass of purple hovering around a circular-shaped, glowing blue object in the center of Joshua's chest. "Let's hope this works."

Matthew held his hands over Joshua's core, overlapping them so that there was a triangular opening over the core. The blue glow on Matthew's fingers brightened a moment later before a soft blue, translucent beam dropped down from Matthew's hands and into Joshua's core.

Joshua sucked in a breath.

"Hold still." Matthew's eyebrows furrowed together as his mouth downturned. "I haven't exactly done this before."

The blue light between Matthew and Joshua flickered, then solidified into a deeper blue color; already, purple wisps were starting to slip in.

Joshua coughed. "Haven't exactly had much of a reason to practice…"

Matthew's mouth quirked upward for a second before it shifted back to his determined expression. "Don't try to talk. This is gonna exhaust both of us."

"Mm."

More purple started to come in and merge with the blue beam; sweat started to gather on Matthew's brow, and he pulled up more on his hands to keep them away from the purple that was starting to work its way up towards him. He pulsed more Aura into the beam.

The result was a bright flash of blue-purple that _zapped_ between Matthew's hands and Joshua's core.

"Gah!" Matthew was blasted back a little, wincing and shutting his eyes against the sudden glare as he threw his hands over his face.

"Eurgh." Joshua winced, pulling back from the glow, but he wasn't able to move too far from it. His head whacked against the leg of the drill that was behind him, the glow over his open chest still remaining where it was.

After a moment, the light faded, and a small, purple bead that was glowing with malice and hate dropped to the ground next to Joshua as the Reploid went limp.

Matthew lowered his hands from his face as the light faded and blinked quickly in order to adjust to the loss of the bright flash. He sucked in a breath sharply when he saw that Joshua was unconscious and quickly activated his Aura Sight again.

The most condensed purple he saw was in the purple bead that was sitting rather innocently on the ground a short distance from Joshua. Other than the Dark Energon in the ground, not a purple wisp of it was located anywhere else.

Matthew let out a sigh of relief and let his Aura Sight deactivate. "It worked." He moved over and pushed Joshua's chest plate back down over his exposed circuitry, then frowned when he noticed that Joshua hadn't moved or said anything. "Josh?"

Joshua shifted a little, but he didn't say anything in response.

"So, you _did_ make yourselves known with this little bit of bait of mine."

Matthew felt a chill run down his spine at the sound of the rasping voice, and he turned his head slowly in order to see where the voice was coming from. He took in the wreckage of the battlefield – the pieces of the Vehicons that were scattered across the area, mixed in with trees that had been knocked down and scorched from blaster fire – and then he saw a new figure that was standing a short distance away.

Matthew's jaw tightened as the blood drained from his face. "Unicron…."

Joshua stirred, but he didn't wake.

Megatron – or Megatron's _body,_ at least – sneered at the Autobots and Matthew as they looked over at him with mixed expressions of alarm and anger.

"Oh dear…." Knock Out backed up into the trees, staying out of sight of the glowing purple optics that surveyed the area.

"I hadn't expected that you would have access to a Spark Reader," Unicron said in a low growl, purple optics moving to Matthew. "To think that one of these _parasites_ is capable of being tainted by Primus' touch. I will be relieved to see them all _die_ when I tear this crust apart in order to free my proper form in order to awaken anew!"

"I don't think so, ugly," Wheeljack snarled in reply. "You're not taking this planet apart – not on my watch."

Bulkhead slammed his wrecking ball-like weapons together. "If you think you can get away with that, then you've got another thing coming!"

"You think that you can stop me?" Unicron burst out laughing. "You're so-called Prime is not here! You have no chance of—"

There came the sound of an engine above their heads, high-pitched and loud. A large shape moved over their heads.

"My ship!" Ultra Magnus exclaimed.

Unicron turned his head, following the ship as it landed on the ground a good distance away from them. He tensed. "No…it can't be! The AllSpark!"

Matthew stiffened at that statement, eyed widening. "Oh, no…." He'd heard about what had happened on Cybertron from Joshua and Maria, when Ratchet had come back with them, grim-faced, and Jack had asked if Optimus was all right.

Did this mean that….?

The ship opened, and Optimus Prime came barreling out of the ship and slammed into Unicron with enough force that a normal Cybertronian probably would have gone flying back a short distance and ended up slamming down large numbers of trees. However, Unicron managed to stop Optimus short before he started glowing bright purple.

"Optimus, look—"

 _VHWEEEE!_

Matthew winced back in alarm as a purple explosion suddenly sent Optimus flying back, revealing Unicron standing tall with a strange container in his servos.

"Thank you for going to all the trouble of getting me this, Servant of Primus," Unicron sneered. He started to open the container "Now your precious AllSpark is—"

Unicron's words were suddenly cut off as he let out a scream; purple energy rose up from his open mouth and down into the open container in front of him, which screwed itself shut as Megatron's body fell back and hit the ground, leaving the area unusually quiet.

Joshua groaned and started to weakly push himself into an upright position as the Autobots stared at Megatron, the screaming purple spirit in the container, and Optimus, who looked more tired than he ever had been.

"What just happened?" Wheeljack started to approach the container and its screaming occupant, looking at it with an odd expression.

"I have just imprisoned Unicron's spirit," Optimus replied wearily. "I have also just returned from Cybertron after investigating the Omega Lock at Joshua's request."

Joshua grunted as the others looked over at him with odd expressions. "I thought we might be able to reroute the controls, since they were the only thing that were damaged. Optimus, can it be done?"

"I believe that Ratchet will be more than capable of it, yes." Optimus gave a slight nod.

"Unicron was saying something about the AllSpark." Arcee stepped forward with a frown as Matthew pulled Joshua to his feet and quickly moved away from the drill. "I thought we ejected that thing and sent it into space so that Megatron couldn't find it."

"I have always been aware of its location," Optimus replied.

"Then where is it now?" Ultra Magnus inquired.

Matthew and Joshua exchanged grim looks; Optimus noticed their expressions.

"Joshua, Matthew, I thank you for doing what you have been able to do in order to assist us in bringing to an end Unicron's influence on Megatron," Optimus said. "I believe it may be wise that you return to your home; the Autobots will be able to continue on without any more needed assistance."

Joshua nodded a little in response. Matthew, on the other hand, frowned.

"With all due respect, Optimus, Batman still expects me to stick around for a while longer," Matthew said. "There are some things that are going on in the underground that we've only heard rumors about, and I think he's expecting me to stay and help him figure out how to stop it before it makes its way to the surface. I'll send Joshua home, but I'm staying."

Something in Optimus' optics flickered while Joshua looked at Matthew with a concerned frown.

"I don't remember hearing anything about that," Joshua said.

"It came up in the data we took from Grod before we managed to have him arrested – _again."_ Matthew frowned. "There's some strange readings and dealings that weren't connected in any way to the Decepticons, and a lot of evidence that says there's basically another Reach Event coming. I'm planning on sticking around so that we can get to the bottom of things faster; maybe some out-of-dimension knowledge will help iron things out."

Joshua snorted. "Good luck, then. Are you going to open a portal or not?"

"All right, all right." Matthew looked over at Optimus and the others Cybertronians present. "I'll, uh…give you guys some time." He then moved into the forest with Joshua hanging onto him for balance, leaving behind a large number of confused Cybertronians and one saddened Prime who clearly looked like he had something to say that the others weren't going to like.

 **And Matthew's and Joshua's arc is complete. Liz has one more chapter - a sort of post-adventure epilogue, if you will - and then we're getting a short interlude chapter before the second-to-last arc. Heh heh. That one's gonna be fun.**

 **I'll see you guys later with the next chapter!**


	54. Fullmetal Alchemist Mashup part 9

**Heh heh. Last chapter in Liz's arc!**

 **Shadescribe - Possibly, yes. She may also think that Liz can handle herself and will come back eventually - maybe the problems just a bit bigger than they once thought. We'll have to see on that front. And yeah, I agree that the ending of _Prime_ could have gone better, but I was going through writing that arc so quickly at the time that I couldn't think up a better way to stop Unicron. Eh. *shrugs*But yeah, I'm glad that Optimus came back for RiD15.**

 **And now...here we go!**

 **Chapter 54 – Fullmetal Alchemist Mashup part 9**

When Liz woke up after the battle against Dante, she was deemed to be fit and have absolutely nothing wrong with her physically, which baffled Dr. Marco, who had been called in.

"B-but you went through human transmutation!" Marco argued. "Surely you should have something that was—"

"I did." Liz clenched at the blankets of the hospital bed, her eyes a little wet. "I can't go home."

Marco blinked twice at that, appearing confused. "Can't go home? What do you mean?"

"I had…I could travel between dimensions and…and Truth took it. My water powers are gone, too." Liz pulled her knees up to her chest and buried her face in them. "I won't get to see Mom and Dad again."

Marco blinked a couple times out of confusion. "Truth…took your alchemy?"

Liz shook her head. "He _gave_ that to me. I lost the powers I was born with back home. O-on another world." She gave a shuddering sigh and curled up more tightly against her legs, still sitting upright. "A-and I can't go back because I can't make portals anymore."

Marco blinked in confusion as Roy the One-Eyed Mustang stepped forward and put a hand on the doctor's shoulder for a moment. The older man looked up at him for a moment, then sighed and stood up from his seat and slipped out of the room, muttering something about how he was getting to be too old for this under his breath.

Roy sat down in the chair the old doctor had vacated. "So you're not a World Jumper anymore."

Liz, her face still buried in her knees, shook her head a little in response. "This is my world now. I can't…I can't go back." She sniffed. "They're probably all gonna think I'm dead o-or something…."

Roy looked uncertain as Liz continued to cry into her knees. He reached out a hand towards her back, paused for a moment, then frowned and went ahead with patting Liz in an affectionate manner.

Liz's head turned, and she looked at him with her eyebrows knitted together and tears still streaming down her face. She remembered what had happened in the Gate, and why Truth had taken her abilities from her, but she hadn't had the chance to say good-bye to her parents, much less the rest of her family, and the thought of not being able to see them or her friends again – she was still _in high school,_ she wasn't ready to leave home yet – was definitely hitting her hard.

Roy looked uncertain. "Look, I know what it's like to have to leave home and never look back. I don't know what kind of family you've left behind, but if you're acting like this it's obvious they're going to miss you, too. At this point, the only thing that you can do is keep moving forward and don't do anything stupid."

Liz blinked at Roy, but said nothing. The tears were coming less frequently, now, but her eyes were still moist with them.

"We're giving you the choice of living with Hawkeye or Winry," Roy continued. "They should be able to help you get settled in. If you really do have alchemy and want to learn how to use it, we can—"

" _AAAAAAAA!"_

The loud scream of a young man who had just woken up to a waking nightmare caused Liz's head to shoot up and Roy to stiffen as he looked towards the door.

"That sounded like Ed!" Liz scrambled out of bed, partially noticing that she was in a hospital gown as she dashed out of the room.

"I said don't do anything stupid, damnit!" Roy scrambled after Liz as she ran down the hall, looking through open doorways into rooms in order to see where the scream was coming from.

 _"WHAT THE HELL DO YOU MEAN I'M A HOMUNCULUS?!"_

Liz skidded to a halt in front of an open door at the end of the hall. She caught sight of three blond young men standing – or sitting on a bed – inside the room, looking at each other with either shock, anger, or a guarded expression on their faces.

Liz swallowed, her own sorrow pushed to the back of her mind for a moment when she realized what it was that was going on.

 _Edward was awake, and he definitely did not like the situation he'd woken up in._

"B-brother, I—"

"Save it," Edward said, bitter. He turned away from Alphonse, looking over his left shoulder as he did and glaring at something red that was located on his back there. It didn't take much for Liz to realize he was glaring at his tattoo.

"I'm just some freak," Edward muttered. "Might as well end me where I am." He closed his eyes.

"Well, that's stupid."

Ed and Alphonse whipped their heads around as Liz stepped into the room, frowning, Roy catching up behind her and moving into the doorway with a frown on his face.

"Liz, you're okay!" Alphonse exclaimed with relief.

"Listen, Edward, I sacrificed my ticket home _and_ the alchemy-breaking powers I was _born_ with so that you could be yourself and your world could remain unaffected by whatever's happening out there and you say you want to _die?!"_ Liz ignored Alphonse, raising her voice as Edward continued to avoid the gazes of the others in the room.

"You did what?" Ed repeated.

"I know you're not human or anything like that anymore, but did you really expect me to be able to get the Philosopher's Stone out of you while I was at it? You're basically like Ed's _dad_ now – a walking Philosopher's Stone. The only thing that's different is that you've got Pride's shadow powers, _which you do not have to use if you don't want to._ Ling was able to live with _Greed_ in his head just _fine_ – Ed can tell you about that, he was following the guy around for a while!"

Edward shifted his head so that he could eye his counterpart out of the corner of his eye while Ed shot Liz a look of surprise.

"Greed?" Alphonse repeated. "And who's Ling?"

"You don't know Ling?" Ed stared at Alphonse with an odd expression. "He's the guy who ended up having the same thing happen to him as this guy!" He motioned to Ed. "Only _he_ got Greed's voice in his head, not Pride!"

"Pride?" Edward scowled. "Bradley did _not_ control shadows!"

"Bradley was _Wrath,_ you idiot," Ed snarled back.

"And Wrath was—"

"We know, okay?!" Liz burst out. "Your world was different from his, and that's pretty much all that _should_ be said about it! You didn't have anyone from Xing come over to Amestris and you didn't have anyone become a vessel for a homunculus until now. I get it." Liz stomped over to Ed and poked him in the chest. "But that doesn't mean that you can go and ask someone to kill you."

Edward scowled at Liz. "How do you know so much, anyway? And who are you?"

"My name is Liz Carlsdale, I used to be able to travel between dimensions _without_ needing human transmutation, and I sacrificed that ability to _save your ass!"_ Liz blinked for a second, pulling back a little out of surprise. She hadn't sworn before. It…definitely felt different.

Edward was staring at her, wide-eyed. "You…could get past the Gate without…?"

Liz shook her head and sighed irritably, her shoulders sagging as she looked at Edward with a disapproving expression. "Yes, I could. But now I can't because there's something _stupid_ going on in the Multiverse and Truth decided he was going to take my power and use it. I can do the alchemy stuff in exchange for that, and I gave up my water powers too, so you're not gonna be…whatever you were before." She made a waving motion with one hand, as though that was meant to convey whatever it was she was getting at.

Edward's eyes narrowed at that. "And how am I to believe you?"

"You're not attacking us or anything now," Alphonse pointed out, getting his brother's attention.

Edward opened his mouth to issue a retort, then scowled and muttered something under his breath that sounded a lot like, "Well, I still _could._ "

"I don't think you will," Liz replied. "Dante's gone; I saw Truth take her myself. You're talking to your _brother_ and someone who may as well be yourself, even if he's from another dimension and didn't go through the exact same events that you did. Ed never ended up in Germany."

"Where?" Ed frowned.

"A country on my world, on the other side of his Gate." Liz nodded to Edward, getting a wide-eyed look from Ed.

"You have got to be kidding," Ed said flatly.

"And how do you know about that?" Edward frowned at Liz.

"Manga – comic books." Liz shrugged. "You guys are famous…back home." She looked away, remembering suddenly that she couldn't go back. She rubbed an arm absently. "S-so I know a lot about what happened for you guys and wh-what you went through."

"Then you know what it means for me to be a homunculus," Edward hissed in reply. "I'm a lie! A copy of the other Ed! There's no way that—"

Alphonse hugged Edward tightly, causing his brother to cut himself off in surprise.

"Other Brother told me a lot about the homunculus he had to fight," Alphonse said. "They weren't copies of people, they just had a lot of once vice. You always had a lot of pride, it's just…now with a Philosopher's Stone in you, you've got a lot more of it."

"And _maybe_ the annoying little voice that goes with it," Ed added. "Maybe. I don't know what Truth did to get you to wake up."

Edward stared between the two of them – his brother and his own double – with wide-eyes. "But I'm still a homunculus."

"Yup. But Ling was one, and he was fine. You'll be fine, too." Ed shrugged. "You're just gonna have to get used to the whole controlling shadows thing and probably won't be able to do any alchemy, but hey. You're alive, right?"

"And I'm gonna outlive all of you," Edward growled back. "Do you really want that? You may as well end it now."

"No, Brother." Alphonse looked Edward in the eye. "W-we'll figure something out. Please, don't…don't kill yourself. Dad can help – he has a…a counterpart who's a Philosopher's Stone, too, who was human before he was turned into one. He can help."

Edward scoffed. "Dad? Are you kidding me? There's two of him now?"

"Two bastards to punch in the face, great." Ed grinned and slammed his fists together, getting him an odd look from Roy and a frown from Liz.

"That's not the point," Liz hissed.

Ed snorted. "So?"

"Besides the point," Roy muttered.

Alphonse nodded in agreement and looked at Edward. "We can just…we can just talk to him, okay? He knows what's going on. He can help."

Edward scowled, but he said nothing in response. Alphonse took that to be a good thing, considering that he relaxed, but still looked concerned.

"So what's gonna happen with her now?" Ed jabbed a thumb at Liz.

"It's been decided that she can either stay with Riza and Hawkeye or she can stay with Winry," Roy replied. "Liz hasn't decided which yet, so we're waiting on that decision."

Liz swallowed as Alphonse looked over at her with a curious expression and Edward folded his arms across his chest and snorted, rolling his eyes. "I…I don't know which one I could go for. I mean, I know they're both good places to be, but—"

"It's either one of them or Armstrong," Roy said flatly.

Liz gulped audibly at that. "I-I think Winry's home would…would probably be better."

"Why?" Ed frowned.

"W-well, I grew up in a small town – I don't think I'd handle the city too well – a-and I've gotta get used to everything here." Liz fidgeted a little. "Plus, home had…a lot more technology than you guys do…being out in the country might help me adjust to that a little…."

"Surrounded by automail?" Ed asked, frowning. "And what do you mean, you had more technology?"

"Rockets," Edward muttered. "Televisions."

"They've gotten a lot more advanced beyond what Germany had in World War Two," Liz said. "We… _they…_ have computers now. Machines that can record data and fill out forms faster than anyone could by hand. Makes filling out forms and stuff easier, but…a little more complicated too, sometimes." She rubbed the back of her head as Roy stared at her.

"Computers, huh?" Roy grinned. "I think I'd like to see one of these things in action someday. I'll ask around and see if we can put a task force together to make a machine that can do stuff like that." He schooled his grin back into a more serious expression. "So, you want to go to Resembool, then. Are you sure?"

Liz nodded. "Y-yeah. I'm sure."

"All right, then. I'll alert Winry and make sure you have the train ticket you need." Roy looked Liz up and down. "I believe Winry may be planning on taking you clothes shopping later."

"O-okay." Liz swallowed.

"What, scared of a few dresses?" Ed asked with a sly grin.

"No, it's just that the stuff here's so different from back at home! I don't know if I'm going to find something I'll like!"

"Knowing Winry, you probably will," Alphonse replied with a gentle smile. "Come on – let's get your clothes back so that we can get you out of the hospital. Then we can find Winry and see about making sure you've got everything you need before you head back to Resembool, okay?"

Liz nodded a little in response, and she couldn't help but smile a little as well, even as her eyes misted up again.

Some small part of her hoped that her family would, some day, be able to know where she was and know that she was, in fact, okay, and that she simply couldn't travel between worlds anymore. She would hold onto that hope for as long as she could.

 **Whelp. Sounds like Liz is starting to adjust already to her new home, whether she likes it or not. I certainly wasn't expecting her to swear...hoo boy.**

 **Next chapter's going to be a bit of an interlude between arcs, and then next week we can dive right into the second-to-last arc of this story! We don't have too much further to go, guys!**


	55. The Final Step

**Hi, guys! Sorry that I couldn't post something sooner - I had to be offline for a while. I'm back now, though. :)**

 **Shadescribe - Edward will understand soon enough, I assure you. Unfortunately, we won't be able to see that happening...As for Liz finding her way home, you'll have to wait and see what I have planned for the future!**

 **Speaking of which...we've gotta get back to Maria!**

 **Chapter 55 – The Final Step**

Maria felt a chill run down her spine, and she stiffened suddenly. "Oh scrap."

Stanford looked up at her statement, blinking a couple times as his hand held one of the pages of the _Covenant_ between his fingers. "What is it? Have you had a vision of your own?"

"No, I – this feels like someone just dropped an ice cube down the back of my shirt." Maria turned in the kitchen, frowning. "It's like something about to happen here, but…."

Stanford rose to his feet slowly, closing the book with careful hands. "Do you think it could be—"

There came the sound of crackling electricity from outside and Maria stiffened again, feeling the chill run down her spine much more strongly as her entire body shuddered, rattling her armor in the process and causing Stanford to jump.

"Stanley." Stanford gritted his teeth and was instantly a blur of movement, dashing into the living room where he had set up temporary camp in the Carlsdale home and quickly started to gather his things. "He actually managed to punch through to this dimension!"

Maria jumped at Stanford's exclamation, then quickly hurried after him. "You mean, you think that—"

"Considering that you are intuned to portals as much as you are and are capable of sensing events on other worlds, it would only make sense that you are capable of sensing when events are happening in real time on your own when connected to those abilities," Stanford replied as he threw his pack of supplies and his finished weapon across his back. "We have to hurry – judging from your reaction and the lightning strikes, the portal is _highly_ unstable."

Maria's eyes widened at that, and she swallowed. "That must be why I'm feeling so many chills running down my spine…"

"You said before that you thought you could stabilize it." Stanford walked over and put his hands on Maria's shoulders as the crackling outside started to become steadily louder. "Do you still think that possible?"

Maria bit her lower lip for a second, but then she felt another strong chill and shuddered in response to it, jolting Stanford's hands off her shoulders. She looked up at him with a nervous expression, still biting her lips as her eyebrows came together and rose up instead of falling into a frown. "It's the only thing that we can try."

Stanford nodded, his dark eyes burning with some fire of their own that made Maria wonder if he was turning his fear into something else at this very moment. "Good. Science is all about experimentation and exploration, and if you are unable to grow without learning on your own and knowing more about your abilities, you will always remain inexperienced and ignorant." He started towards the front door of the house and threw it open, his black coat flapping dramatically behind him as a blast of wind came through the front door and into the house.

Maria raised an arm in front of her face defensively at the blast of wind, then lowered it and found that Stanford was looking back at her with his arm outstretched, as though offering his hand to help guide her on some grand adventure.

Maria quickly shook the thought out of her mind and quickly moved to get out of the house and onto the street, using Stanford's outstretched hand as a support against the wind that was seeming to blow in from out of nowhere.

Well, nowhere _natural._

"There it is." Stanford tensed, gripping Maria's hand tightly as they stared at the blue, electrical mass in the middle of the street that was pulsing and falling in on itself and fighting to expand into a large, circular portal that Maria found eerily similar to the ones that _she_ was capable of making.

"I'm going to have to get in close, probably." Maria relaxed her grip on Stanford's hand, but he didn't let her go. "It looks a lot like my portals, but it doesn't have any form! I'm gonna have to get in there and give it something to hold onto while it stabilizes."

"Your hands-on comment from before is beginning to become a lot more literal," Stanford noted.

"Someone would probably say I foreshadowed this happening or something," Maria replied. "If I was in a story like you are." She tugged her hand out of Stanford's, managing to get him to let go, then started towards the middle of the street.

"Be careful!" Stanford yelled after her. "The portal could very well suck you into the Nightmare Realm at this stage – if that were to happen, then all hope would be lost!"

Maria swallowed nervously and nearly came to a stop when she suddenly _felt_ something tug at her chest and pull her forward a couple inches. She dug her metallic boots into the sidewalk and winced a little as the concrete crunched under the force of her reaction.

"Okay, definitely gonna have to be careful, but something tells me I have to get closer," Maria muttered. She carefully slid forward a few inches more, then stopped just as a blue lightning bolt shot across the asphalt in front of her, leaving a burned scar in the road as the lightning started to lessen.

"Maria!" Stanford called out in – was he _worried?_ Probably; Maria was much younger than he was and definitely more inexperienced when it came to interacting with dimensional rips and unstable portals. Especially considering that this was Maria's first time stabilizing a portal of this sort.

Maria took in a breath and raised her hands up in front of her. There was something shimmering in the air around the sphere that was collapsing in on itself and growing, something that definitely looked like it was connected to the mass but wasn't quite revealing itself.

She grabbed it and started pushing energy into it.

A blue _ripple_ of power suddenly went over the collapsing sphere, revealing what appeared to be some kind of energy field around the blue, unstable portal.

"Looks like I've gotten close enough," Maria murmured. "Or as close as I can get. Come on, portal, we need a way _back._ Don't you dare make a black hole on me."

The sphere in the center of the field trembled as Maria sent more pulses of energy through it. The sphere of energy stopped collapsing and started _flattening_ instead, growing in size like a large, flat disk that had been placed on one of its thinner edges.

Maria's grip on the field around the portal caused her to get moved suddenly to the side and _towards_ the portal.

"Maria!" Stanford called in alarm.

"I'm fine!" Maria called back. She dug her feet into the asphalt, creating twin trenches in the road as she moved towards the edge of the portal. "There's no lightning at least, see?" She looked back at Stanford with a more confident expression. "I know what I'm doing!"

Clearly, she didn't. There were beads of sweat dripping down her forehead, and her confidence clearly seemed forced. Her smile was strained, as well. Even as the energy field and the portal itself seemed to finally settle and merge, leaving Maria gripping the side of the thing like space was a fold of fabric in a blanket, she didn't completely relax.

Still, the pulses of energy from her small corner of the portal seemed to be doing enough to keep it from collapsing into the nightmare of a sphere it had been a moment ago.

Stanford stared at Maria and the portal for a moment, then pulled the goggles that he'd left perched on top of his head down over his glasses as he pulled up the scarf around his neck. "Keep it stable for as long as you can."

"You don't have to tell me twice." Maria paused, hesitant for a moment, then added, "Good luck, Ford."

Ford gave a curt nod in response, then walked briskly towards the portal as Maria gripped its side, pulsing in a portal of her own in order to stop the sparks from flying and keep the portal from collapsing.

Just before Ford stepped through it, the portal suddenly looked as even and calm as a large, undisturbed pool.

And then the man was gone.

Maria was about to let the portal go, but then she hesitated. _Did Ford make it through OK? What's going to happen to the portal if I let it go?_

On a whim, she decided to stick her head through the portal in order to make sure that Stanford had arrived safely.

On the other side of the portal, the room – a certain lab basement, actually – was dimly lit by the light coming from the portal. Maria was barely able to make out the small number of figures who were standing in the room, but she could see Stanford's back clearly enough as he removed his goggles and scarf.

Maria noticed that the other figures were turning to look at her, and she gave them a wide, friendly grin. Then she looked over at Stanford and noticed something behind you.

"Rift's right behind you, Ford," Maria warned. "Looks like me stabilizing the portal on my end wasn't enough to stop it from forming."

Stanford turned sharply at that and looked down before sucking in a breath in alarm at the little, seemingly-harmless blob of galaxy that was floating a foot off the ground.

"Word of advice: _don't stick the damn thing in a snowglobe._ It's not safe, it's not sturdy, and people have torn their hair out over you making that decision in another dimension. So just don't. Please?"

"Maria—"

"If you guys need any help from a World Jumper, Ford's got my number!" Maria added, moving her focus to the rest of the group and ignoring the aghast expression on Stanford's face. Without another word, she pulled her head back through the portal and into her own dimension before glaring up murderously at the large, flat disk of a possibly unstable portal that had formed between the two dimensions.

"Okay. Now to shut this thing before it does who knows what else."

Maria gripped the portal even more tightly and gritted her teeth as she poured more energy into it, trying to force the portal to close _safely_ so that it did _not_ go back into the unstable state it had been in minutes before. "Come on…come on… _close, you stupid portal!"_

Maria's barking order didn't cause the portal to close.

 _Bzzzzzz….._

Maria blinked in surprise, then narrowed her eyes warily as the portal started to buzz and become rough and spiky along its surface. Something was thrown through it – a white board that had "GET BACK!" written on it in colorful letters.

Maria blinked in confusion for a second, then let out a yelp of surprise and stumbled back just as the entire portal started to _ripple,_ as though it had been hit with something and was attempting to bounce it back, causing it to lose its shape as it curled in on itself. Parts of it tried to stay in places where they had been before, but they were shot down towards the center of the portal one by one, almost as though something was pulling those particular points loose.

The entire portal rippled into some closing flower, then collapsed in on itself and disappeared in a bright blue blip before _poofing_ into blue startdust, which quickly disintegrated into nothing.

Maria blinked a couple times at the sight in confusion. _What just-_

 _Beep! Beep!_

Maria gripped her left ear as the Caller ID came up in one corner of her vision. "Dr. Pines, what did you do?"

 _::Ah, good, you're still alive; I was worried, considering your proximity to the portal and how tightly you'd been holding onto it. You are…not injured, are you?::_

"No, I'm fine, but – what in the _Pit_ did you _do?_ The entire thing just collapsed in on itself and vanished!"

 _::…you are aware, at least in some form, what the machine looked like, correct?::_

"You mean the portal? With the inverted triangle frame feet off the ground and all the weird symbols?"

 _::Yes. Those 'weird symbols,' as you so aptly put it, were what was anchoring the portal and keeping it open after the emergency shut-off mechanism was damaged and who knows what else was harmed amongst my equipment down here. Damaging the symbols beyond recognition caused the portal to loose its shape; therefore, it harmlessly collapsed in on itself and disappeared. Thankfully, your work with it seems to have prevented it from doing any harm to your dimension other than what damage we were able to see::_

Maria looked down at the burned, melted asphalt beneath her feet where the lightning from the unstable portal had struck the ground. "Yeah, no kidding. But Ford, your portal's a real piece of work."

 _::As I have gathered::_ Stanford's voice was dry to the bone. _::Well, so long as you are whole and able to continue on despite what has occurred, if we truly do require your assistance, I shall make sure that you are contacted::_

"Good. Now go get your brother to fill you in on what's going on – and _don't get mad_ at him, he's sacrificed thirty years to get you back where you belong, you should at least hear him out without punching him in the face."

 _::….::_

Stanford hung up.

Maria let her hand drop from her ear and sighed irritably before she started back to the house. A moment later, she stumbled and dropped to her knees.

 _Warning. Energy Levels approaching critically low levels._

"Why didn't you say something earlier?" Maria snarked in reply to herself as she forced herself to her feet again. She stumbled back to the house, tripping over the sidewalk and the stairs leading up to the front porch.

The Reploid barely managed to get to the couch in the living room before her systems decided that enough was enough and that she needed to be knocked out.

 **Time Break**

Maria came back to the waking world with a groan and a blaring warning in her head that gave her a headache and let her know that she really, really needed to eat something.

The next thing she noticed was the fact that she was lying on the couch with her face in one of the cushions.

And the _third_ thing she noticed was that there was something that smelled familiar.

Maria turned her head and was met with the sight of a cup of Energon. She turned over onto her side and grabbed it with a free hand before glugging down its contents.

"When I thought that you would be exhausted after that ordeal, I didn't think that it would take this much from you."

Maria finished off her drink and wiped her mouth with the back of her hand as her eyes focused on the person who had handed her the Energon. "Well, I wasn't expecting it either, Joshua, but the stupid thing sucked up more power than I was expecting it to. Where's Matthew?"

"Still back with the Autobots and the Justice League. He said there was something else going on that Batman wanted his help with, but he went ahead and sent me back because the Autobot-Decepticon war had effectively ended." Joshua paused. "In…nearly the exact same way that it ended here."

Maria stared at her cousin. "Right down to Optimus sacrificing himself to the AllSpark?"

"The events leading up to that moment were slightly different because of multiple factors, but yes. It seems that event has to take place in order for the war to be considered over."

Maria sighed and collapsed back against the couch, her hand holding the empty cup dangling over the side. Joshua slipped the cup out of her fingers and hid it away in his subspace. "Great. Sounds like we weren't able to prevent even that." She frowned. "Why did Matthew send you back if he said that there was something else going on, though? That doesn't make any sense – he could have used your help."

"I doubt he could have. I didn't have any visions of what was happening with the humans during the course of my time there; the only things that I saw pertained to the Autobots and Decepticons. Maybe Matthew is aware of something else that I never knew about and decided against telling me." Joshua shrugged, then rose up from the crouch he had been in. "Either way, he's there all by himself now, and I'm sure that he can handle himself. He went to Hyrule without the rest of us, after all."

"Yeah, I remember." Maria pushed herself up into a sitting position and leaned back against the couch cushions; she let out a sigh. "At least Ford's back in his home dimension now. We completely demolished the road, though – that portal was so unstable…."

"I can imagine," Joshua replied dryly. "Where's Liz?"

"Out. It's been a week and a half for all three of you and she hasn't come back yet, which worries me." Maria sighed. "She went over to Amestris, from what I can guess. You know, the Fullmetal Alchemist country?"

"I've heard you speak of it." Joshua sat down on the couch next to Maria. "You said you were planning on going back to Neo-Mobius soon."

"In a couple days, yeah. I'm gonna…" Maria yawned. "Gonna sleep off stabilizing Stanford's portal. That thing was a _nasty_ piece of work."

"Judging from the fact that you are still exhausted and you have had a large amount of Energon just now, I should think so. It's a wonder you managed to get yourself into the house rather than just collapse out on the street."

"All I got for a message was critical levels, not that stasis lock was imminent." Maria waved Joshua's concern off. "So I knew I had enough left to get inside, at least. 'Ts gonna take me a couple days to get back up and ready to go back, though. 'M planning on going through Kalos to see if there's anything up and if I need to jump in and get Lysander to not do anything stupid."

"Hopefully, that dimension has learned from Cyrus' own actions," Joshua replied. "Get the rest that you need. I'll be in my lab." He rose off the couch and stepped out of the room, nodding to Mrs. Carlsdale as he stepped out of the house and she came into the living room.

"Feeling better?" the woman asked as she sat down next to Maria.

Maria gave a short hum in reply. "Yeah, just…a little tired yet. I don't think I'm gonna be going anywhere for a few days yet, but I still want to hit one last place this summer."

"Have you thought at all about what you could be doing here?"

Maria blinked at the question, then looked at her mother oddly. "You mean…like a job or something?"

"Well, you are going to need to know how to support yourself, and your father and I aren't going to be here forever to give you a home every time you come back from another dimension."

Maria nodded a little. "Yeah…I'll, uh, have to think about that."

"Please do, before you come back at the end of the summer and end up having nothing to do for the next nine months." Katie smiled kindly. "Now get some sleep. The house isn't going to be quiet like this forever."

Maria chuckled a little. "Heh. Yeah, Matt and Liz are definitely going to be talking about their adventures when they get back, that's for sure." She fell over into a lying position on the couch again, yawning as Katie rose to her feet and moved away from the couch. In seconds, the Reploid was asleep again, recovering her spent strength.

Katie's smile faded into one of worry as she moved into the kitchen, where Morgen was working. Tomes and papers were scattered across the kitchen table as he sat in his usual spot, chewing on the end of a pen as he glared down at the notebook in front of him.

Katie sat down next to him. "Our children are being run ragged."

"What else is new?" Morgen wrote a note in a rather distracted fashion.

"The fact that they are growing much too quickly into being travelers of this sort concerns me more than the fact that Maria hasn't given herself _job experience_ yet."

Morgen paused and looked over at Katie. "What do you expect me to do about it? I can't tell her to just stop; she's done so much already and at this point there are more worlds counting on her than just this one."

"I know."

"She's learning life skills that we would never be able to teach her on our own."

"I _know._ But I'm worried that she's never going to be able to settle down and be able to raise a family like we have and get the traveling to _stop._ "

Morgen sighed and put down his pen. "I'm concerned for that, as well, but that doesn't mean Maria's going to be all right. She knows what she's doing, it's just…going to take some time for it to stop. Especially when _she's_ making the portals and not anything else."

Katie nodded glumly. "I don't want to see Collin start doing this."

"At this point, I wouldn't be surprised if he did start. But we'll have to wait and see what comes of all this." Morgen made a motion with one hand, as though he could touch the World Jumping heritage that he and his wife had passed down to their children. "They are growing up."

"I know." Katie sighed. "I'm going to miss them."

"I am, too."

 **Change in POV**

Joshua rubbed his fingers into his temples as he sat at his desk in the lab, gritting his teeth as the headache finally passed. He shook his head, hoping that would clear the visions from his mind, but they only persisted.

He looked over at the bulb and the angel-girl who was presently sitting in it, then pushed himself up to his feet and came over before pressing a hand against the glass. The girl hesitated for a moment, then mimicked his movements.

 _Does this have anything to do with what you told Maria?_

Joshua's gentle, mental push of the visions towards the girl caused her to react violently, drawing back sharply as her eyes widened, her wings shaking and pulling close around her body.

Joshua sighed, then removed his hand from the glass bulb. "I guess that answers that question." He rose back up to his feet again and moved back and away from the girl, who watched him cautiously. "Red eyes and someone coming back from the dead…Maria is recovering from her ordeal with Dr. Pines' portal, so this is something that I will have to take on alone, then."

Joshua grabbed his tool kit from its place on his lab table and threw it into his subspace. Then he snapped his fingers.

A blue, electrical burst blasted from his fingers, then flew into the air and started to circle around quickly, creating an electrical ring in the air before a swirling portal appeared in the middle of his workspace. It wavered for a moment, then stood firm.

"Time to see what brought Spike Spiegel back from the dead."

 **Stanford's home! Huzzah! But there's something else going on now. What is it that Joshua has to get into now? Spike Spiegel...I know who that is, but do you?**

 **Next time, we'll get into Joshua's arc, and the second-to-last arc in the series! This one's gonna be...interesting.**


	56. Cowboy Bebop Session 1

**I am on Spring Break. Therefore, it stands to reason that I should post a little more often this week. Expect a chapter a day! After Spring Break, though, I'm pulling back to a chapter or two a week; you guys are catching up with me pretty quickly now, and I want to stay ahead when it comes to producing chapters.**

 **Shadescribe - *blinks; squints at review; gasps* You do not know what _Cowboy Bebop_ is? ...Well, I guess I shouldn't be _too_ surprised - it is a bit of an old anime (late '90s). I highly suggest that you watch it, though - it's a season (20-ish episodes) and a movie, and the soundtrack is _glorious._ If you like jazz and blues, you should definitely go for it. And of course the GF portal is going to be problematic - that thing isn't exactly stable! You're right about Maria, too - even if she tried to live a normal life, she wouldn't be able to live a normal one for long because of what she has become. Especially with the whole "disappears off the face of the earth for a week at a time" for World-Jumping stuff.**

 **Anyway, we've got an arc to start! And I do hope that you watch the anime soon, Shadescribe, because this takes place _after_ the anime. Heh heh.**

 **Let's roll!**

 **Chapter 56 – Cowboy Bebop, Session 1**

When Joshua stepped out of the portal and into an alley of the darker part of some, unknown city – to him at least – the last thing he expected to see was a large man with a mechanical arm barreling down the street at the open end of the alley, followed closely by a seven men dressed in black trench coats and with katanas on their backs.

This was supposed to be the future; what use did people have of carrying close combat weapons in sheaths if they could very well have laser swords that didn't _need_ sheaths?

"Why are you following me?!" the man yelled back as Joshua stepped out of the alley. "I'm an old man! Since when have old men like me done anything to get your attention?"

 _Jet._

"We've got orders to take you out, old man!" one of the other men yelled back.

Joshua shifted into a ready stance and bolted down the street after the group of men in black trench coats and the old man they were chasing themselves. Sparks flew from the jet ports in his cobalt-colored, armored feet for a second before he jumped up and blasted forward.

One of the men looked back just before Joshua slammed into the back of two of the men, knocking them over and causing most of the rest of the group to fall with them.

Joshua scrambled to his feet as three of the men who were still on their feet turned and looked at him with frowning expressions.

"Who the hell are you, kid?" one of them snarled.

Joshua clenched his right fist, summoning his Buster. Electricity sparked from the cannon's opening and up his arm as he raised the weapon above his head. "Pulse it!"

Electricity built up quickly in the cannon's opening and blasted out in a rippling, circular blast that caught the three men who had been coming at Joshua and the others who had quickly started to get to their feet.

The man they had been chasing turned and glanced back at the sound of the blast and stared in shock at the collapsed men, sparks flying over their bodies as Joshua lowered his arm and deactivated his Buster.

Joshua stepped over the momentarily stunned men and made his way over to the large man who watched him with a wary expression. "Jet Black?"

The man eyed him warily, taking in the cobalt and green armor that Joshua was wearing from the neck down. "Who are you?"

"Joshua Langstrom, World Jumper." Joshua held out his right hand, spreading the fingers wide to show that he wasn't reactivating his Buster anytime soon. "I heard that you're having a little problem. I'm here to help."

Jet Black frowned at that, body turning away from Joshua. "What makes you think I need help?"

"Spike Spiegel being after your head, for one thing."

Jet stiffened in response to that, eyes widening as he clenched his fists defensively. Joshua knew that a punch from the man would be more than enough to stun him temporarily, and Jet knew the city like the back of his hand – probably.

"Spike died," Jet growled back. "I saw the police reports. Don't lie to me!"

"That was inconclusive," Joshua responded. "Everyone knows that. He disappeared at the end of things and never returned to the _Bebop._ "

"And how would you know that?" Jet leaned down a little to look at Joshua with an expression of disapproval. "Those records are sealed from the public."

"Technically, wouldn't you count as a member of the public?" Joshua responded.

Jet blinked for a moment, then shook his head and glared at Joshua. "What do you know? Have you been tracking my every move from birth until now?"

"No."

One of the men groaned. Joshua glanced back and noticed him starting to attempt to push himself to his feet.

"If you want the full explanation, that is going to take time, and it isn't time that we have just simply standing around here talking about whether or not you should trust me," Joshua said.

Jet's eyes narrowed as he gritted his teeth at Joshua, then motioned for Joshua to follow him and dashed down the street. Joshua followed after him quickly, metal feet connecting with the concrete ground and creating a dull clanging noise that caused Jet to look back at him for a second.

"Armor," Joshua said simply.

Jet grunted in response, then turned a corner and waited for Joshua to turn it before he pulled him into a building and shut the door quickly behind him.

Joshua blinked a couple times, then looked around, noticing that he was standing at the entrance of what appeared to be a bar. An abandoned bar, considering the amount of dust that was covering the bar stools and the main bar itself, but a bar all the same.

Jet made sure that the windows were properly boarded up and that nothing was exposed before moving over behind the bar and digging around under it. He came up with a couple beer bottles. "Want anything?"

"I'm underage," Joshua replied. He came over to the bar and attempted to dust off one of the stools before sitting down. "I'm also a mechanical being, so drinking would do nothing to me."

Jet paused in the middle of popping the cap off one of the beer bottles and stared at Joshua with a raised eyebrow. He shook his head. "Bullshit." He popped the cap off the bottle and took a swig.

Joshua put his arms on the table and pulled down his middle and ring fingers, causing the armor on his forearms to pop open. "I don't think so."

Jet leaned over the bar as his eyebrows shot up, looking down at the inner working parts in Joshua's arms as well as the weapon parts that were hidden in his arms. He looked up at Joshua. "And that's…all over. You're sure."

Joshua flicked his wrists and closed the armor on his arms. "The transformation happened last year, so it's still fresh on my mind." He paused. "I can show you more proof. This armor is essentially the only thing that is protecting my inner workings—"

"It's fine, you don't have to go any further than that." Jet waved him off "What I want to know is how you know about Spike and me."

"You are going to find this hard to believe," Joshua warned.

"I've seen a lot of things in my day, boy, I doubt that you are going to be able to surprise me at this point." Jet took another swig of the beer bottle.

"I'm from another dimension where you were a part of the events of a Japanese animation from the late 1990s."

Jet stared at Joshua, who was looking back at him with such a straight face that he looked under the bar counter again. "Is there any champagne left in here?"

"It's hard to believe – nearly impossible – but I do have proof of it," Joshua added as Jet came back up with a disappointed expression and no bottle of wine to be seen. He reached behind his back and pulled out a small, rectangular device that caused Jet's eyebrows to shoot up in interest.

Joshua pressed down on the only button on the device. "Play _Cowboy Bebop_ theme 'Tank'."

Jet's eyes widened sharply as the song started up with a syncopated beat and a single voice.

 _"Three, two, one, let's jam."_

"That's enough," Jet spoke up quickly as the song started to make itself known.

Joshua tapped the button again, stopping the music short. "You do recognize it. I had wondered."

Jet eyed Joshua suspiciously. "Where did you get that?"

Joshua made a motion with the device, causing a holographic light to spring up with a rectangular picture of four familiar figures and a dog lying on a white background. "Album collection of a soundtrack for the animation I mentioned. The tunes are…quite catchy."

Jet stared at the picture of the album cover – at himself, the dog, the child, young woman, and young man with dark green-ish hair who all seemed to be piled on top of each other. "You have _got_ to be kidding me." He attempted to take another swig from the beer bottle in his hand, only to find it was empty. He grabbed the other one. "You have got to be kidding me."

"I'm not." Joshua flicked the tinkered-with iPod again, causing the hologram to disappear, before he placed it back in subspace. "I'm aware of a good deal of what happened with you and Spike from the time that you let Ein onto the ship and met Faye and Ed to the night that Spike went to confront the demons of his past and kill them as a result. I am also vaguely aware of the fact that Spike has – seemingly – come back from the dead and whatever those men were chasing you for is connected to him. I only saw pictures, no sound, unlike what the animation usually came with. So I'd appreciate it if you'd be able to fill me in on what's going on so that I can be of more use to you."

Jet blinked a couple times at Joshua's statement, looking as though he was unsure of the present situation and wasn't quite sure how to take what exactly it was that he'd just been told.

The sound of footsteps outside caused him to snap back into a more serious expression. "All right, fine. You want to get filled in, I'll fill you in. But not here. We're too exposed as it is."

"Where, then?" Joshua responded.

"Just stick with me, kid. I know of a few hiding places that those goons haven't touched yet; we should be safe in at least one of them." Jet jumped over the counter as Joshua slipped off the stool he had been sitting on, then motioned for the boy to follow him out through a back door. "And keep your weapons hidden, kid. There are civilians around here, and I don't want them getting spooked by someone walking around with a cannon for an arm."

"Of course. Considering the neighborhood we appear to be in, I'd expect nothing less."

Jet eyed Joshua with a suspicious frown, then shook his head and muttered something under his breath as he pushed the back door open into a back alley. "It's not far. Come on."

 **Time Break**

It ended up taking them longer than it probably should have to reach Jet's chosen hiding place. Joshua chalked it up to the fact that they were avoiding men and women wearing black outfits and swords strapped to their backs – it must have been a uniform of some kind, maybe for the lower-ranking grunts of whatever organization they happened to be.

Which, considering the place that Joshua was in, was more than likely a gang of some kind – and definitely one that was out for the head of the captain of the _Bebop._

Jet pushed open the door of what appeared to be an abandoned warehouse of some kind, pushed Joshua in ahead of him, and shut the door behind him. The click of a lock echoed in the building, and would have sent a chill down Joshua's spine if he had been with anyone other than Jet.

Still, he wasn't entirely surprised when he suddenly found himself staring down the barrel of a gun.

"Who's the tail?" asked a woman's voice. Joshua's eyes flicked away from the gun for a second, catching sight of a purple-haired young woman wearing quite a revealing outfit.

"Put the gun down, Faye, the kid saved my life." Jet came up from behind Joshua and put a hand on one of his armored shoulders. "Said his name's Joshua."

"What's with the armor? Looks more high-tech than I've seen." The gun moved down to Joshua's chest and pushed against the armor that was there.

"I think you'll find that a lot about me is more high-tech," Joshua replied. "I doubt that there are many who are capable of saying that they had their human consciousness moved into a mechanical frame that is capable of not only replicating anything they were able to do as human, but also giving them something to defend themselves with."

Faye blinked blankly at that.

"The kid's a robot," Jet said flatly.

"Technically, the term is Replicating Android, or Reploid," Joshua corrected. "Robot is more of a derogatory term for a mindless machine."

Faye snorted while Jet's eyebrows shot up. "So what?"

"You calling me a robot would be the same thing as calling you an animal." Joshua put his hands behind his back, raising an eyebrow at Faye as her expression faltered for a second. "A mindless animal that is unable to think for itself."

Faye blinked at that, then shook her head and snorted. "All right, fine. What makes you think that you can just waltz in here after saving Jet's life and say that you're here to help, huh? And how do you think you _can_ help, anyway?"

"That depends on what exactly it is that's going on. I know it's connected with Spike Spiegel seemingly coming back from the dead and that there are strange goings-on happening in the shadows, but other than that I am a great deal in the dark."

Faye put the gun in Joshua's face again. "How do you know about Spike?!"

Joshua opened his mouth to answer when he suddenly felt a chill run from the back of his neck and down his spine, causing him to stiffen up in surprise.

"Ed will find it!" chirped a voice from behind him. "Just need to find where his memories are!"

"Bwark!"

"Ed? Ein?" Jet looked down, startled. "I thought I told you to go find a different place to hide, not here!"

"Ed got found out. Went on a merry chase all over the city! Ed thinks Ed and Ein lost them." There came a childish giggle from below.

" _Think?!"_ Faye repeated incredulously.

"Ed, be careful in here," Joshua spoke up. "I have anti-virus measures in place that could trash your computer if you try to see things that I do not want to be seen."

"Ed sees them, Roid-person. No tripping traps today!"

Joshua could hear the clattering of keys on the floor behind him and winced a little as something shifted in his head while Jet and Faye exchanged looks.

"You…trust him, Ed?" Faye asked.

"Yes and no. Ed hears truth, wants to see truth." Joshua could almost hear the grin in the hacker's voice. "So Ed dives into memory core to see what can be seen!"

"I come from a different dimension, so some of what you see won't make much sense," Joshua warned.

Faye snorted. "I find that hard to—"

"Is that _Earth_ Ed sees? _"_

Ed's question stopped Faye short as her eyes widened sharply. Jet moved out of Joshua's line of vision and crouched behind him, no doubt looking at the computer that Ed was sitting in front of.

"That can't be right – Earth's surface is nearly uninhabitable thanks to the moon blowing up." Jet clearly sounded disbelieving.

"Bwark! Bwark!"

Joshua shifted something a little at the back of his mind, and he knew from the twin gasps from them a moment later that they saw the shift of the added map in the lower part of the memory. "That is Earth. Our moon hasn't gone the way yours has."

"Ooo, Ed wants to see more!"

"Look for us in there," Jet suggested. "What was it, kid? You said you watched some kind of animation with us?"

"Animation?" Faye, who was still standing in front of Joshua, frowned.

"Yes; one from Japan." Joshua turned his head slightly to look back at the other two, catching sight of Ed's red-orange hair. "Look for an anime called _Cowboy Bebop._ "

"An-i-mae," Ed repeated, trying the word out as she started clattering against the computer's keyboard again. The clattering started to slow a moment later, then come to a stop.

Joshua felt the rifling around in his head stop abruptly, and he blinked a couple times while Faye frowned.

"Ed, what is it?" Faye asked, looking over Joshua's shoulder. Joshua would have turned and looked back himself were it not for the fact that he had a cable stuck in the back of his neck.

"…Roid-person's telling the truth," Ed said finally, carefully.

"Holy…." Jet trailed off. "The music was one thing, but this is…."

"What?" Faye moved around to look at the computer screen, leaving Joshua a clear view of the rest of the warehouse they happened to be standing in. A good deal of it was empty, but it looked like there were mechanical parts piled up against the walls and in some of the corners. There was also a pile of instant ramen cups in one area that were toppled over in a small pile. They looked like they had been emptied and simply left on the floor over time.

"…that can't be right."

"Hm?" Joshua blinked, letting his thoughts turn back to what Ed was rifling through at Faye's voice.

Faye moved around in front of Joshua again, hands on her hips as she glared at Joshua. "You saw that…that Lunkhead kill that guy from his past?" Her eyes were watering a little, but not enough to really let the tears fall.

"Vicious? Yes."

"But you didn't see him die."

"Spike? No. There are people who believe that he didn't, and that he simply fell into a coma and woke later, or went into hiding and came back later. The people of my dimension never got any confirmation from that."

Faye stared at Joshua for a moment then turned away and wiped at her face with the back of an arm. A moment later, Joshua felt the cable that was in the back of his neck be unplugged, and he moved away from Ed and Jet and turned to look at all three of them and the Corgi who was sitting next to Ed.

"So. How bad are things?" Joshua asked.

Jet sighed and ran a hand over his balding head as Ed coiled up the cable that had connected the computer and Joshua. "Bad would be an understatement. Vicious may be dead, but he's still got people around who follow his ideals and they seem to think that we're dangerous to them and want our heads. On _top_ of that, there's the rumors about Spike."

Joshua frowned and folded his arms across his chest. "Rumors that he's still alive."

"Yes." Jet nodded grimly. "Seeing what you saw makes me think that he actually _was,_ but someone either fudged up the reports on purpose or someone managed to _actually_ bring Spike back from the dead, which I think is impossible."

"Depends on the technology they have available to them," Joshua murmured to himself. That got him an odd look from Jet, but he shook his head. "What sorts of other rumors are being said about Spike?"

"That he's working with Vicious' followers as some kind of assassin," Jet replied grimly. "The Black Dragon's face hasn't confirmed or denied anything, and besides, if you do see him, it's said you're already dead at that point."

Joshua clenched his jaw a little at that, his eyes narrowing slightly. "And you haven't seen him."

"Not yet, but we're looking."

"That Lunkhead," Faye muttered, as though the name was a curse.

"Spike-person is hard to find," Ed complained. "A shade on the interwebs." The hacker wiggled her fingers and mimicked the sound of a ghost moaning.

"Hm." Joshua frowned. "Black Dragon…Spike Spiegel…there must be a connection there we're not seeing."

"If you're thinking of going after those guys, you're nuts." Jet gave Joshua a pointed look. "We don't even _know_ where their base is, and they're said to have the strongest types of defenses. Not even your little electromagnetic ray gun is going to be able to do anything."

"A what now?" Faye blinked in surprise.

"What weapons I have on me aren't important now," Joshua replied. "But you're right; looking for the Black Dragon on purpose like that isn't the best idea. But Spike is more than likely going to be difficult to find. Hunting down a needle in a haystack might be far easier. But that doesn't explain why the Black Dragon is coming after you."

"Friends with Spike-person," Ed piped up. "Dragon-people want Spike-person's friends."

Joshua cocked his head to one side at that. "Hm. Well, that's troublesome."

"Troublesome nothing," Jet muttered. "I've had to hide the _Bebop_ somewhere and hope that the Black Dragon doesn't find it, our money is down on our luck, and we haven't been able to pick up any bounties, especially since we technically have bounties on _our_ heads thanks to those Black Dragon goons. If you're seen with us, you're going to get one, as well."

"That's a threat I'm willing to take on," Joshua replied. "Spike Spiegel got away from the life that he and Vicious led, and he isn't someone that I expect would be willing to go back."

Jet nodded gravely at that while Faye and Ed exchanged looks. "Which makes me question the rumors that he's running with the Black Dragon. There has to be some missing piece here that we're not aware of."

"Exactly." Joshua folded his arms across his chest. "How are we going to find those connections, however…."

"Ed thinks that Ed and Roid-person could find it!" Ed piped up. "Just have to find all the fingerprints of the Dragon-people on the interwebs." The hacker grinned widely.

Joshua smirked in response. "That could be one way. But there are other ways to gather information."

"I'd talk to my cop buddies, but you have to understand that because of the bounty on my head not very many of them are going to want to get involved," Jet warned. "There might be some who would be at least willing to drop hints."

"Wasn't there that native man you and Spike talked to a lot?" Faye asked, frowning. "Think he might know something?"

"Maybe. I wouldn't count on it, though." Jet grunted as he rose to his feet from where he had been crouching to look at Ed's computer. "All he does is watch the stars and say whether or not you're gonna die anytime soon – or if your friend is. Would be worth a shot, though." He paused. "In the morning, that is."

Ed's shoulders sagged. "I want to find Spike-person now…."

"I know, Ed, but we're going to have to keep our strength up and get some rest if we're going to actually be able to do that." Jet ruffled Ed's hair, then walked over to where the used instant ramen cups were scattered around the floor, then pulled a mat out from behind a pile of metal nearby. "We don't have enough mats to give you a place to sleep, Joshua."

"That's fine," Joshua replied calmly. "I can sleep on the ground or against the wall without discomfort." As though to prove his point, he went over to the wall near Jet and sat down with his back to it and folded his arms across his chest, pulling one leg up and propping his arms against it.

Faye stared at him with an odd expression as she walked over to where Jet was pulling the mats out; Ed had a far more eager look, however; Joshua supposed that was because he was a mechanical being and she was looking forward to poking around in his head for more information.

Ein trotted over to Joshua's extended, armored boot and sniffed it before looking up at him and cocking his head to one side. Then he moved closer to Joshua and lay down next to the Reploid with a snort.

Ed giggled. "Ein likes you!"

"So it seems," Joshua agreed. He let his head relax back against the wall behind him and closed his eyes. "We'd better get some rest. Who knows what's going to happen tomorrow."

Jet grunted and grumbled something under his breath that sounded like it could have been a string of complaints.

Joshua was barely able to catch the words "Spike" and "idiot" as he drifted from the waking world and into a deep recharge.

 **The scene is set. Joshua has met up with the bounty-hunting crew of the _Bebop,_ and now we just have to figure out what is going on with Spike and this Black Dragon group. Hmm...**

 **I'll see you guys tomorrow with the next chapter!**


	57. Cowboy Bebop Session 2

**Back again! Also listening to The Adventure Zone and finally catching up with the most recent episode. You guys should give it a listen if you guys are into Dungeons and Dragons. It's fun. :)**

 **Shadow-Wolf-Hikaru - Yessssss, welcome to Gravity Falls. *rubs hands together* Join ussssss. And if you're looking for angst when you're done, I've got an AU of my own that I'm slowly working through - the Puppet AU! You can have a look at that if you want later. I've got other GF stuff too, so if angst isn't your thing, I've got other, nicer things.**

 **Shadescribe - I do hope you do remedy it! Cowboy Bebop is _awesome._**

 **Speaking of which, we'd better get back to Joshua ASAP!**

 **Chapter 57 – Cowboy Bebop Session 2**

Joshua awoke the next morning to Ein licking him in the face and Ed sitting on his legs.

"Morning, Roid-person!" Ed greeted cheerily. "Are you ready to help us find Spike-person?"

"As prepared as I can be," Joshua replied. He scratched Ein carefully behind his ears, getting what looked like a smile from the Corgi. "What's the plan?"

"Jet-person and Faye aren't awake yet," Ed replied with a secretive whisper. "Ed was thinking Roid-person and Ed could surf the interwebs and wait for breakfast."

"Hm." Joshua inclined his head slightly at that. "I suppose that would prove to be useful and narrow down our search some. You'll have to lead me; I'm afraid that I don't know my way around the internet here as well as I do the one back home in my dimension."

"Well, you came from Earth, right?"

"Yes." Joshua frowned a little at Ed's question, wondering what it was that the little hacker was getting at. "But what I know of the internet and what you know of the internet are two entirely different things. Websites that I knew are probably different from the websites that you know."

"Oh." Ed's eyes widened at that. A grin popped into Joshua's line of vision a moment later. "Ed-person can show Roid-person around!" Ed dashed over to one of the mats and grabbed the computer before dashing back and plopping down next to Joshua. Ein moved around to sit between the two of them as Ed turned the computer on.

Joshua reached around behind his back and pulled out his own laptop computer.

Ed pushed Joshua forward a little in order to look behind him, then looked back at Joshua with a frown. "Where did that come from?"

"Pocket dimension," Joshua replied. He smirked a little. "I don't have pockets built into my armor, so I have to carry things another way."

"Whoa….but Roid-person, you don't use your head?" Ed tapped the computer that Joshua had pulled out of his subspace.

"I don't want to catch a virus."

"Oh. Roid-person's smart."

Joshua powered up his laptop as Ed watched the screen curiously, eyes wide with an amazed expression as the screen lit up and Joshua logged in. Ed gained a pouting expression a moment later.

"Where can Ed get a computer like that?" Ed complained. "That's fancy-fancy."

"They're common back at home," Joshua replied. He set the computer up to hook up to a wi-fi signal and blinked in surprise at the large number of wi-fi signals that were available. "Hm. I didn't think there'd be so many open for the taking."

Ed tapped the screen of Joshua's computer, hitting the name "Gremlin." "Jet-person set that up for me. It's Ed's own wi-fi signal! You can use it, too."

"Thanks." Joshua connected to the wifi signal, then let his hands hover over the keys for a moment before jumping onto the internet. "Where do we start?"

"We start at the top." Ed grinned as she slapped the goggles over her eyes and plugged them into her computer, which definitely looked far more like a clunker than Joshua's sleek laptop. "Govern-ment archives! Sneaky sneaky people."

"Spies." Joshua peered over at Ed's computer screen for a moment and caught sight of the website that she was sneaking into and pulled up the appropriate programs before digging into the website's code in order to look for the data. "Undercover agents."

"Sneaky sneaky," Ed repeated. "They want _all_ the secrets to themselves, but we need the secrets, too." She started humming something that sounded vaguely like the _Mission Impossible_ theme, which made Joshua smirk. Even after all this time, some things still stuck with mankind.

Joshua turned his focus to his own computer and frowned at the screen of code in front of him and the website that was hovering in the background. A few quick, simple searches brought up information on the other gangs that had been taken down in the area over the last few decades and the list of people who had been arrested, killed, or escaped – he made a note of the list of names and dove deeper, moving quickly and changing his coding style slightly in order to keep anyone who might be monitoring the site off his tail for at least a short time.

One of the two still-sleeping forms stirred; Ed hardly noticed, and Joshua only looked up for a second to register the fact that Jet was rolling over and slowly starting to get off his mat.

"Diving?" Jet asked.

"Yup." Joshua didn't look up from his laptop. There was something…almost _odd_ about a particular line of code that didn't exactly look like it was supposed to be there. Almost like it was hiding something.

"I'm going to go check on a few leads of my own. Faye's probably planning on hitting up a few bars for general gossip when she finally crawls out of bed." Jet sent a pointed look at the sleeping young woman. "Stay in here and stay out of sight; if you get ambushed, Ed knows where to go."

"Got it."

Jet stepped away from them and slipped out of the warehouse, muttering something under his breath about food and how they were nearly running out.

Joshua's eyebrows came together as he poked at the line of code again, watching it shift and shiver a little. Ed giggled, and the code _shifted_ suddenly, causing Joshua's eyebrows to shoot up.

"That's you," he noted.

Ed giggled again, then shifted the code again, turning it into a giant arrow that pointed further down the line of code that made up the website they were poking into. "We've got tailsies. Thanks for distracting 'em! Now to get out."

The arrow disappeared from sight, and Joshua quickly pulled out of the website and shut off his connection to the wi-fi. No sense in leaving his computer vulnerable to any sort of advanced virus that existed in this world for long; he doubted that his computer's software would be able to handle them too well at this point in time.

Ed pulled the goggles off her face and shook her head, her short-cropped hair seeming to explode out a little before relaxing. "Whoo! That was fun!"

"I didn't get to see as much as you did, but I suppose if I was making them turn around in circles…it was fun in its own way." Joshua smirked a little, but then that shifted into a more serious expression. "Find anything?"

"You first."

Joshua ducked his head a little at the hacker's response, shaking his head a little. "Not much, but it could still be important. I have lists of the other members of gangs that have been arrested recently, but nothing from the Black Dragon. It looked to me like the police is targeting other gangs and leaving this one alone, which makes me think they're either getting paid off or the Black Dragon hasn't gotten enough attention yet to really be considered a threat."

"Dragon's a sneaky dragon." Ed nodded seriously.

"What about you?"

"Fingerprints!" Ed wriggled her fingers and grinned. "We're on the right track – Black Dragon's left a _lot_ of fingerprints. And not _just_ fingerprints – _data._ "

Joshua raised an eyebrow curiously as Ed turned her computer so that the Reploid could get a look at the monitor. On it was a small number of paragraphs of something that Joshua was able to scan through quickly.

"They've had dealings and hands in technological improvements?" Joshua blinked, his eyebrows rising slightly. "Secret projects and unknown locations of underground labs – there's more to these people than we were originally led to believe. This isn't a _gang,_ this is a _mafia._ "

Ed snickered sinisterly. "They have lots of secrets." She scowled. "Ed can't find them all online, though. Jet and Faye will have to talk to peoples for other stuff."

"In the meantime, there must be other things we can do…." Joshua frowned and rubbed his chin absently. "Secret projects and labs could mean anything from drug production to a secret arms race."

Faye stirred on her mat and lifted her head. She blinked blearily before her eyes focused on Joshua, and she huffed as she rolled off the mat and pushed herself to her feet. "Jet's already gone, huh?"

"He left a little while ago," Joshua replied, not looking up from Ed's computer. "I believe he said something about looking in on a few leads."

"Figures. I'm going to go find some myself." Faye started towards the door. "Don't stay here too long, okay, Ed?"

"Okay!" Ed chirped back.

"And kid, don't put those two in danger, or else I'm gonna have your metal head mounted to the nose of the _Bebop_ whether Jet likes it or not." Faye fixed Joshua with a pointed look as she stood in front of the door.

Joshua looked up at her comment and nodded a little in response, then watched as she stepped out of the warehouse before looking back at Ed. "Any ideas are good ideas; something we come up with here might prove to be useful in the long run, whether we're aware of it now or not."

Ed nodded in agreement.

"It sounds to me like the Black Dragon sprung up overnight. The fact that they might already have underground labs and are doing who knows what with them has me concerned. Especially considering the rumors that surround Spike presently." Joshua nodded to Ed's computer. "There hasn't been anything circulating around that could be a new drug, has there?"

Ed shook her head. "Jet-person would have said something about staying away from mushrooms."

"…Right. Which means that it's either weapons or some new technology that hasn't been released to the public in some form yet." Joshua drummed his left hand's fingers against his right forearm, frowning.

"Were you made by people like them, Roid-person?" Ed asked.

"No, certainly not. I was human before; I accidentally found myself stepping into a machine on another dimension that turned me into this." Joshua motioned to himself. "Although, I wouldn't put it past the Black Dragon that it could be a possibility they're working on. I'm more likely to believe that they are attempting to make weapons of some kind, considering that they are more than likely to find themselves in an arms race with the police forces or the military sometime in the future."

"But police leaving them alone!" Ed motioned to the computer and the stolen data wildly. "No arms race if no competition! Something else – something new!" She tapped her chin, frowning, only for her expression to brighten a moment later. "Oo! _Mind control!"_

Joshua shifted away from Ed carefully. "Technological mind control." His mouth shifted into a straight line at that. "We are quite lucky that my cousin didn't come here with me; she would hate an idea like that and would no doubt want to find their hidden labs as quickly as possible, which isn't the best idea."

"Is your cousin a Reploid too?"

"Yes. Her circumstances for the transformation are entirely different, but she is like me in that aspect." Joshua paused. "So we have weapons, but that's highly unlikely if they don't clash with the police force, and mind control. What else could they be attempting to do?"

"Hmmm…." Ed frowned, scratching her head. A scowl scrunched up her face. A moment later, she sighed and shook her head before shrugging.

"Okay. Why mind control, then?"

"Mafia's like control. Like being on top." Ed nodded. "But they like being _sneaky_ about it. Black Dragon's different from normal gangs. They like being out in the _open._ "

"Like when they were chasing after Jet yesterday."

"Uh-huh."

Ein growled something from between them, causing Ed and Joshua to look down at the Corgi.

"Ein doesn't like them," Ed said simply.

"I don't like them, either," Joshua replied. "If they are attempting mind control, then that's a _bad_ thing." He eyed his laptop for a moment. "I wonder…."

He was starting to open his laptop again when there came the sound of banging on the locked door that Faye and Jet had disappeared through minutes ago.

"Open up, little girl! We know you're in there!"

Joshua slammed his laptop shut and hit it away in his subspace as Ed tensed and Ein started growling. "We have to move – quickly!"

Ed closed her computer and scrambled to her feet, hefting the large clunker of a machine under her arm as Ein continued to growl. She looked back and forth across the empty warehouse. "That's the only way out!"

Joshua let out an annoyed sigh that turned into a growl. "Then we'll have to make ourselves one."

Ed blinked in confusion as Joshua reached behind him again and pulled out what looked like a steel sphere that was the size of a softball. He bounced it a couple times in his hand before twisting it suddenly and throwing it towards the door. Grabbing Ed's free arm, he pulled her back towards the back of the warehouse while pulling out something that looked like a laser pointer, Ein following on their heels.

"What are you gonna—"

"We have fifteen seconds before that stasis grenade goes off and paralyzes everything within a three-yard radius," Joshua said. He flicked something on the side of the laser pointer, causing a green beam to shoot out and through the back wall of the warehouse. "That gives us enough time to make our way out of here to the next hiding place you have." He moved the laser in a quick half-circle, cutting a hole tall enough that Joshua was going to have to duck a little in order to get through it. Then he raised a foot and kicked down the wall.

 _Crunch._

"I heard something!" someone yelled on the other side of the still-locked door. "Get this damn thing open—"

"Come on!" Joshua quickly moved through the opening, then motioned for Ed and Ein to follow him out into the alleyway behind the warehouse. The two quickly scrambled after him, then moved ahead of him and down the street. He followed after them.

 _Whump!_

"What was that?" Ed glanced back.

Joshua hedged a glance back as well and caught sight of a curling, white smoke coming out of the hole he'd cut in the back of the warehouse. "The stasis grenade. That should hold them for a while. The gas freezes up their nervous systems; it'll release them harmlessly in a few hours, if they're not found sooner."

"Oh. That's so cool!"

"Yes yes." Joshua brought a finger to his lips to shush Ed. "Where's our next hiding spot?"

"Right, right!" Ed promptly turned a corner, Joshua's feet screeching against the ground as he skidded to turn and keep up with the hacker and her dog. "We're gonna find one of Ed's secret places!"

"Bwark!" Ein agreed.

Something crashed behind them; Joshua glanced back and caught sight of two men in black coats with katanas on their backs scrambling over a pile of metal before following after them.

Joshua clenched his right fist tightly, summoning his Buster again before he pointed it behind them. "Blast it!"

A blue-white sphere or energy rocketed out of the Buster and slammed into one of the men behind them, sending him flying back into his companion and sending the two of them crashing to the ground.

"Can Ed have one of those?" Ed asked as she glanced back at Joshua.

"We'll see," Joshua replied. He didn't think that giving her a weapon was a good idea yet, but depending on what happened, he might have to pull something from his subspace.

He had a large amount of weaponry in his subspace, after all.

Joshua heard the sound of feet slamming down against the ground some distance away from them, behind and coming down the alleys on either side of them. "Sounds like we've got multiple tails."

"Uh oh." Ed gulped. "What now?"

Joshua came skidding to a stop as Ed stopped in front of a dead end on the street. Ein circled around the hacker, whining nervously.

"We hold them off," Joshua replied, "with a distraction." He reached behind him again and pulled out another stasis grenade, bouncing it in one white-gloved hand with a serious expression on his face. "Get Ein and get on my back."

Joshua felt Ed scramble onto his back and the paws of the Corgi on the back of his neck just as more Black Dragon goons came out of the nearby alleys and down the street that Joshua and Ed had been following moments ago.

Joshua twisted the stasis grenade, threw it, and jumped. His jets kicked into gear a moment later, shooting them up to a nearby rooftop just as the stasis grenade exploded, resulting in a cloud of gas and cries of surprise from the goons below.

Joshua landed on the flat rooftop and looked down as the gas roiled below in the streets.

"You don't kill anybody," Ed noted, peering over the edge of the rood with Ein in one arm and her computer in the other. "Do you not like killing anybody?"

"I don't intend to," Joshua replied. "Not unless I have no other perceivable choice." He looked over at Ed. "Our hacking must have gotten their attention."

Ed shook her head. "Black Dragon didn't have anything hiding in the government site. They found us in another way."

"I'm not releasing any sort of signal that could get their attention." Joshua frowned. "There has to be something else."

"No time to wait and see!" Ed moved back from the rooftop edge and looked around. "Aha! Fire escape!" She bounded over to the other side of the roof and put Ein down before she started to climb down. Joshua hesitated for a moment before following after her down into an untouched street.

"How close are we to your hiding place?" Joshua asked. He looked at his Buster for a moment, the inner parts shifting a little as he thought of what he might have to use for next.

"Not far," Ed chirped. "Just a few corners to turn yet."

Joshua nodded in response, then followed after Ed again, Ein circling around their feet and panting tiredly. He glanced back at the building they'd climbed over as they turned the corner and suddenly entered a busy street.

"Stay close!" Ed grabbed Joshua's left hand and pulled him into the street, nearly avoiding running into a couple men who were walking in the other direction. "We go hide in a crowd. Jet-person and Faye-person will find us."

"I should hope so," Joshua murmured.

Ed led Joshua into a bar as Joshua deactivated his Buster. The sound of loud jazz music filled the air, masking the sound of the door opening and the noise Joshua's metal feet connecting with the metal floor. Ein stayed close to them as Ed led Joshua into a booth as far away from the door as possible, in a darker corner of the room.

Joshua caught sight of Faye glancing back at them as he and Ed sat down. "I don't have any money that would work here, Ed. I don't think I'll be able to get you anything."

Ed shook her head, then leaned across the table and grinned. "Dine and dash."

Joshua noticed the mischievous twinkle in Ed's eye and smirked a little before nodding.

Faye slammed a beer bottle down in front of Joshua abruptly, causing the Reploid to look up.

"What are you doing here?" Faye asked coldly.

"We were found," Joshua replied. "I made sure to lose them."

Faye blinked a couple times at that, then narrowed her eyes. "You'd better hope they did, or else I am going to wring your neck, mechanical or not."

"Duly noted."

"What have you found?" Ed asked in a secretive tone.

"Nothing." Faye sighed irritably, then glared at Joshua and motioned for him to scoot over, which the Reploid did so before she sat down next to him. "It's like either nobody knows about the Black Dragon or nobody wants to _talk_ about the Black Dragon. It's almost completely taboo. This place was my last chance in the whole city and the only thing I've come up with is that these guys are getting rid of smaller crimes and are doing a better job than the police."

"That's a bad thing." Joshua frowned. "If the organized crime is doing a better job at policing crime than the actual police forces, then there has to be something else involved. Some darker motive…"

"And you know this how?" Faye shot Joshua a dark look.

"Events in history and in fiction make things all too easy to predict," Joshua replied. "In these sorts of situations, it's impossible to really know their motives until it's late, much less who the true leaders of the organization _are._ "

"I think they're doing _mind control_ things." Ed wriggled her fingers as a creepy grin crossed her face.

Faye snorted. "Yeah, right. And I'm the queen of England."

"What?"

"Old Earth country from back before the moon got blasted." Faye waved a hand, then looked over at Joshua. "It still exists, right?"

"It does. Queen Elizabeth the Second is presently on the throne over there." Joshua shrugged. "I live in North America."

"Huh."

The bar door opened again, and the three of them turned their heads for a moment in order to see who had just come in. Upon seeing that it was Jet, breathing heavily as though he had just entered the bar after a dead run, they met his eyes and looked away quickly.

Jet made his way over; Ed scooted over so that the man could have enough room to sit down. "Got found out?"

Ed nodded. "Josh-person made sure they lost us. Gas grenades to go sleepy-time."

"Stasis grenades," Joshua corrected. "They're momentarily paralyzers, not knock-out gas. Works as an excellent cover when you don't have a nervous system that can be affected."

"Hm." Jet blinked a couple times at that, then shook his head. "Find anything?"

"Nobody wants to talk about them except for the fact that crime's down since they showed up." Faye shrugged.

"There's proof of secret lab sites," Joshua continued, keeping his voice low, "but nothing on what it is that they're doing."

"No sneakies sending in reports," Ed added. "It's like the tippy-top people have no interest."

"I might have a few guesses why, but I've managed to get some more concrete information." Jet paused, then leaned forward a little. "Let's go talk somewhere where I know we aren't going to have people listening in."

"Where?" Joshua asked.

"Where else?" Jet rose to his feet. "We've got to get back to my ship and make sure she's all right, don't we?"

 **Heh heh.**


	58. Cowboy Bebop Session 3

**Here be the next chapter! :D**

 **Shadow-Wolf-Hikaru - Be careful with the Puppet AU, my friend. If you don't like it, I've got a one-shot and another story I'm working on that you could read. They aren't armed to the teeth for feels like the Puppet AU is. And I'm glad you know the theme for Cowboy Bebop at least! I hope you manage to get around to watching through it like you have for Gravity Falls! It's a good show!**

 **Speaking of which, we'd better get back to them!**

 **Chapter 58 – Cowboy Bebop Session 3**

Seeing the _Bebop_ in all its glory was…less than what Joshua had been expecting. Now that he was able to get a close look at it, he could see all the dents and dings in the hull, how it looked as though the entire thing could fall apart at any moment but still seemed to be capable of holding on in some, small way.

Jet saw the look on Joshua's face as he moved past the Reploid and towards his ship. "What?"

"It just occurred to me that the ship is just as tenacious and stubborn as her crew," Joshua replied.

Jet blinked at that, then snorted and shook his head before starting towards the ship. "Well, come on, then. Let's just hope nobody tried to get in and trash her while we were gone."

Jet got the ship's main bay open, and Ed, Ein, and Faye scrambled in ahead of him and Joshua. Joshua's feet clanked against the metal gangplank as he climbed up into the ship itself, then followed the _Bebop's_ crew into the ship's living quarters.

"So." Jet looked around the room as Faye draped herself on the couch and Ed plopped down on the floor next to Ein. "I wasn't able to find very many people who were willing to talk about the Black Dragon and what they've been doing other than hunt us for our heads, but I was able to figure out a few things that make me think that these people are definitely not to be trusted."

"I think that is an understatement," Faye huffed.

Jet sent her a pointed look, and when Faye didn't keep going, he continued, "There haven't been any undercover reports coming in because everyone they've sent in has come back almost immediately. They were found out even before they managed to get in, or get close enough to tell who the leaders of the group really are. It's like the Black Dragon knows about them coming in before they're even able to do anything about sneaking into the ranks properly."

"Hm." Joshua frowned from where he stood near Jet and where Faye's feet where on the end of the couch. "They have a mole in the ranks of the government, then."

"Maybe. The men that I talked to were clean, though – they would never let themselves join a gang of any sort." Jet shook his head. "They did know a few things about the Black Dragon, however."

"What kinda stuff?" Ed asked. "Secret stuff?"

"Nothing more than rumors whispered between the different units. It's not completely concrete, but it fits with what I already know, so it's the best that we have." Jet sighed. "Starting with Spike."

 _That_ got the attention of everyone else in the room.

Faye scrambled up into an upright sitting position. "You're kidding me, right?"

"Spike-person?" Ed's eyes were lighting up. "Is Spike-person okay?"

"That's…debatable."

Joshua frowned at that. "Depends on what?"

"On whether or not he's got any gray matter left in that head of his that's still working."

Joshua set his jaw at that while Ed and Faye exchanged looks; Ein's ears went straight up.

"Joshua, you were right – there _wasn't_ a confirmation in the police report that Spike died." Jet looked over at the Reploid. "The problem was that he just completely vanished from the crime scene. The trail of blood ended on the steps of the Red Dragon's headquarters and didn't lead anywhere else."

"He collapsed there after he got out of the building, so someone must have picked him up and moved him while making sure that he didn't lose anymore blood," Joshua noted. "Which, while possible, is…highly difficult."

"Right." Jet nodded. "I think the Black Dragon moved him somehow, nursed him back to health, and now he's running with them."

"You mean he's a part of them?!" Faye exclaimed in alarm. "But then why the bounty on _our_ heads, huh? Couldn't he have some kinda say about whether or not he can go after us!"

"Something tells me it's not that simple," Joshua muttered. He closed his eyes and activated his Future Sight for a moment, brow furrowing as he tried to see where the conversation was leading and what could end up happening.

When he was only met with mental static, that made Joshua worry. A psychic _should_ be able to see things mentally without them getting blocked; if his _were_ being blocked…that meant there was something in the city that was suppressing them.

"What makes you say that?" Jet asked, frowning.

"It never is." Joshua opened his eyes again. "Spike has to have a big reason for running with them – paying off debt for recovering can't be the only thing that they're holding over him for this."

Jet nodded. "Exactly what I was thinking about this. Spike's in trouble, and they're making him do things because they're holding something over his head. Maybe our very lives – that could be why the bounty's out on our head's at this very moment."

 _Beep!_

Ed looked down at her computer with a furrowed brow. "Huh?"

"What is it?" Faye looked over, as did Joshua.

"We got contact – means new bounty on the market." Ed opened the computer and started to type, then froze. "Uh…Josh-person?"

Joshua felt a chill run down his spine. Faye and Jet both looked at him as he started to move across the room over to Ed and her computer in order to have a look at what it was that Ed was looking at.

On the screen was his face – a picture taken from when he and Jet had been standing out in the streets, showing only Joshua's head and shoulders from the side view.

"Wanted by the Black Dragon: Joshua Langstrom, child prodigy," Ed read aloud. "Thought to be in partnership with the _Bebop_ crew. Capture on sight." She whistled. "That's a bigger bounty than mine!"

"What?!" Faye dashed over in order to get a look; Joshua could barely hear the sound of a cash register going _cha-ching!_ "What did you do to get their attention, kid?"

"It was probably because I assisted Jet yesterday and Ed today in escaping them," Joshua replied. "Although…that doesn't explain how they got my name." He frowned, eyed narrowing slightly. "I knew there was something odd about those visions…."

"Visions?" Jet repeated. "Don't tell me you're some kind of psychic, kid."

Joshua looked up at Jet, cocking his head to one side slightly. "Technically, in a way, I am, but that part of my has been limited as a result of my transformation from human to Reploid. I had telepathy before; now it's restricted to other sentient machines. My Future Sight is also…limited, in some ways. But the visions come from something else. They're a location's way of calling for help from people like me."

"What'd you see?" Ed asked while Faye rolled her eyes.

"Spike Spiegel with red eyes, a city in ruin, and a large rip in the sky that looked like someone had taken space and ripped it open like someone ripping a sheet of paper in two."

The crew of the _Bebop_ stared at Joshua with blank expressions.

Faye snorted. "Red eyes? What, did that Lunkhead put in contacts that made his eyes change color or something?"

"That actually matches with something else that I was told, but I never thought…." Jet frowned and folded his arms across his chest, brow furrowing in thought as he eyed Joshua. "Someone told me that there was someone from far, far out of town who could help us out."

"Don't tell me you went to that old medicine man," Faye scoffed.

"His advice hasn't failed me and Spike before, I don't think it's going to fall through now," Jet replied shortly. "So, kid, you said you weren't familiar with the city. You _also_ said that you were from another dimension, not to mention your tech definitely doesn't look like it's from around here."

Joshua nodded. "I did come to help, so that shouldn't come as a surprise. What else did he say?"

"He mentioned that rip's coming because of something happening behind the Black Dragon's closed doors, and that the red eyes will become the master of all, whatever that means. I'm guessing that means the head honchos who are running the Black Dragon."

Joshua's eyes narrowed at that. He looked over at Ed for a moment, then back at Jet. "I haven't personally met anyone human with red eyes. Have you?"

"Not really, unless you count the drug users." Jet shrugged. He paused. "Wait. You're not saying—"

"Considering that you have adjusted well to the fact that I'm from another dimension, I should think that it shouldn't be a surprise to you that there could be aliens living in your own," Joshua replied without batting an eye.

The others stared at him with various blank, disbelieving expressions.

"You can't be serious," Faye said flatly. "There's no way that aliens can – the only sentient people out here are us!"

"Then what causes people to have red eyes besides drugs? I know for a fact that it's not something that can happen to humans genetically." Joshua inclined his head. "This solar system might not have anything that appears to be remotely alien or sentient, but that doesn't mean that there aren't any that live _outside_ your solar system."

"We probably would have noticed them by now if there _were_ any out there," Jet huffed. "But I do agree on the genetics – no one can be born with red eyes; people have tried like in those old science fiction novels and have all ended up with something going wrong. So those red eyes _can't_ be human." He frowned, scratching his head. "Which, I suppose, means that the leaders of the Black Dragon are—"

"UFO!" Ed chirped. Ein barked in unison with her.

"…yeah, that." Jet looked over at Ed before looking over at Joshua. "But the question is, what exactly do they want. If they want you and you haven't done anything other than help us, they might want you for your technology."

"Energy cannons meant to stun opponents and nerve gas aren't new inventions," Joshua argued. "It's more likely because of my connection with you now than anything else. What we should concentrate on for now is Spike, probably. If we can find him, we might be able to figure out what the Black Dragon is up to."

"I agree." Jet nodded. "But he might not know everything." He paused. "You said you knew of a few labs that these goons have?"

"Yup!" Ed piped up. "There's a couple of them!"

"Then we can look into those places and see if there's anything that gives us more of a hint as to what they're up to." Jet nodded to the rest of the group.

Ed rubbed her hands together eagerly. "Ooo, breaky-breaky!"

"We're going to have to do this quietly," Jet warned. "If anything, as soon as they see us they're going to kill us on sight, considering how they've been coming after us."

"Sneaky-sneaky, got it." Ed gave a thumbs-up.

"You're going to need me in there," Joshua said. "If this is a lab, there are bound to be computer servers or monitors that are connected to off-site data collecting facilities. If Ed can't get in without attracting attention, I might be able to get in from the inside in order to find what it is that they are attempting to do."

"Are you suggesting that we bring you along, into the heart of whatever all this is?" Faye waved a hand. "Kid, this goes a little beyond bounty-hunting work, in case you haven't noticed."

"Right. We don't have the equipment, much less the connections to _get_ that," Jet agreed.

"I think you'll find that I have more than enough equipment to cover for that." Joshua smirked as Jet and the others stared at him with blank expressions. The Reploid's expression turned into a more serious one a moment later. "If I wasn't here, then you would have taken more time in order to come to these conclusions and even start to plan for what we're discussing now. I'm a catalyst that is speeding up events that need to happen, or else we won't be able to find out what Spike is doing, or whatever it is that the Black Dragon is planning." Joshua motioned to himself. "I am a World Jumper. Whatever it is that brought me here is not supposed to be happening in this dimension, and it attracted my attention in order to fix that. We need to end this quickly in order to bring things back in balance on this world, or else who knows what could happen to your world."

Jet and the others exchanged looks at that, wide-eyed and thrown off.

"World Jumper?" Ed repeated. Ein cocked his head to one side. "From another dimension…hmm…."

"World Jumpers are from science fiction stories," Faye scoffed. "You may know about us, but that doesn't mean that you could be one of _them._ "

"Believe me or not, I am here to help," Joshua replied. "Ed, you know where the labs are, correct?"

"Yup yup!" Ed's head bobbed.

"Good. I think that I might have a few things on hand that should be of some use." Joshua looked over at Jet and Faye. "If you're willing to let me help, that is."

Jet and Faye exchanged looks at Joshua's statement, appearing cautious.

"Since you're so set on it, then we're probably going to have to go through with it," Jet said with grim finality. "You are here to help."

"I am."

Jet paused at that, hesitating, then nodded slightly. "All right. Let's do this."

 **We got a plan a-hatchin'! This is gonna be fun. :)**

 **I'll see you guys tomorrow with the next chapter! We got some interesting happenings ahead!**


	59. Cowboy Bebop Session 4

**We left off yesterday with more interesting information; time to see what comes of it...**

 **Chapter 59 – Cowboy Bebop Session 4**

It turned out that there was a lab in one of the poorer parts of the city. The warehouse it was in looked nearly identical to the one that Ed and the others had been hiding in a few days ago.

Joshua rolled his shoulders as he stood in the alley between an old apartment building and the warehouse-turned lab. Faye and Jet were walking around the street, and Ed and Ein were back at the _Bebop_ working on hacking into the lab's systems. Hopefully, they wouldn't end up getting in trouble there.

Joshua got down into a crouch for a second, then jumped up as his jets unleashed a short blast that sent him flying up towards a window ledge a few feet up above his head.

They had gone over the plan multiple times in the _Bebop_ before they had split in order to get the plan started. Joshua's gadgets proved to be useful – or, at the very least, eye-catching to Jet and Faye, who were quick to arm themselves with innocent-looking things that Joshua explained were capable of stunning or harming anyone who came near. He made sure that Ed had something as well, in case anyone tried to break into the ship and came for her, but he was pretty confident that no one was going to be able to get in.

Considering that the _Bebop_ was just as stubborn as her crew, Joshua was sure that the ship would be able to find some way to protect the people who relied on her…even if the ship showed no outward signs of intelligence.

Joshua leaned against the dusty window of the warehouse as he turned his focus from the preparations to the task at hand. He brushed a hand against the dust-covered window and frowned when none of the dust cleared away.

 _A film of some kind – more than likely applied on the inside._ Joshua's brow furrowed. _This just made my job more difficult._ He held out his right and flicked his wrist, snapping something out form his subspace without looking away from the window. A thin, little metal cylinder of a handle settled into his hand, and he pressed it against the glass before flipping a switch on the side.

 _Fwheee!_

Joshua smirked a little to himself as he moved the device around the window in a large enough circle that he'd be able to step through without too much trouble. _I knew it was a good idea to research lasers._ He filed away the idea of creating a more full-scale lightsaber away into the back of his mind to consider with Jolt later, then flicked the miniature one off and hid it away again.

Then he pushed the glass circle into the building.

The resounding _crash_ and tinkle of glass that followed barely made him flinch, despite the fact that the sound carried and echoed between the buildings.

 _"Are you insane?! They're gonna hear that!"_ Joshua heard Maria's voice hiss at the back of his mind. _"I would have only done that by accident, not on purpose!"_

"Ed's checked the records on this place and Faye has scouted it out; I doubt that they are using this facility as much as they may try to make themselves appear to," Joshua murmured to himself. He looked through the hole in the glass. "It's dark, and abandoned, just like we thought." He brushed against the inside of the window. "And there is dust on the inside; it doesn't look like they've been here for a while."

 _::Well, hurry it up before you do something else that catches their attention::_ Jet grumbled into Joshua's ear. _::I definitely don't want to get caught out in the open like this::_

"And I don't plan to be caught, either." Joshua looked down and caught sight of a large amount of equipment – abandoned beakers and vials that looked like they may have been crushed by something other than the glass that had just collapsed on top of them.

He readied himself, then jumped in and activated his jets, slowing the drop significantly and giving him time to drop down _next_ to the lab table of abandoned lab equipment instead of _on top_ of it. His feet landed on the glass-strewn floor with a solid _crunch;_ he shook the shards out of the jet exhaust ports and stepped away from the wall as he had a look around the room that he had just landed in.

"It appears to me that they've abandoned this place," Joshua noted. "There aren't any signs that the people who had been here left quickly, however; everything is still in place, rather than scattered in a mad mess."

 _::Sounds like a dead end::_ Jet grumbled. _::Great::_

 _::Ed doesn't think so!::_ piped up the hacker. _::There's secrets in here – Josh-person just has to find them!::_

"We'll have to see if they left any behind, first…." Joshua frowned at a chair that was in the near-center of the warehouse. It looked like one from the dentist's office, with restraints where he supposed the patients' – or _patient's_ – neck, wrists, ankles, forehead, knees, and chest might have been. There was a thin line of something brown going from about the neck down to the bottom of the back of the chair.

Joshua approached the chair, moving carefully around other lab tables that still had some chemicals sitting in beakers. There was a strange smell in the air of chemicals and _something else_ that Joshua couldn't identify – it wasn't something that he was used to smelling in his lab.

Joshua leaned over one arm of the chair and frowned at the brown line that went down the back of it. "They did experiments in here – possibly on people."

 _::They did_ what _now?::_ Faye repeated.

"There are lab tables with various chemicals in here, as well as what I am guessing is a chair that they strapped lab subjects to in order to be able to test either various substances or various torture devices. There's blood here that suggests that one of their subjects bled out from his spine. I don't see any other blood spatter here, however."

 _::Yuck::_ Ed said. Joshua could almost picture the girl sticking her tongue out in disgust.

"There's no way that they would leave a place like this abandoned without reason." Joshua pulled away from the chair and turned, noticing more lab tables and tall, black towers against the back wall of the warehouse. "Ed, do you see anyone coming yet?"

 _::Hm…nope nope! All clear!::_

"…I'm going to do this quickly so that we don't get caught in a trap."

 _::A trap?!::_ Jet yelped. _::Kid, you-::_

"It doesn't _look_ like there's a trap of any kind here, but I don't want to take any chances," Joshua replied. He reached behind him and pulled his laptop out of his subspace as he stepped towards the black towers at the back of the warehouse. "I think I've found the computer towers that I was looking for. Keep an eye out; it's more than likely that there are members of the Black Dragon nearby; this looks like it could be part of their territory, after all."

 _::We knew that when we came in here::_ Jet grumbled in reply. _::Trust me, kid, you won't find anyone any more on edge than us right now::_

Joshua gave a hum in response as he wove between the lab tables, frowning at what lay on top of them. Mechanical tools, the remains of old parts, and dried blood. Lots of dried blood.

Joshua diverted his gaze away from the rusty red-covered tools and set his gaze on the black computer servers as he finally reached the back of the warehouse.

He found a cord plugged into the bottom of one of the servers, the protective covering over the inner wires looking like it had been melted in some places, leaving the inner wirings exposed. He knelt down and held up the plug end between his fingers, frowning. "Hm. This looks…."

 _::What is it?::_ Jet spoke up quickly. _::Did you find something?::_

"There's an old plug in here that looks like it came from Earth. An Apple plug, no less – I can plug my laptop into the system directly." Joshua's brow furrowed. "Which I'm not going to."

 _::Why not?::_ Faye spoke up.

"It suggests they know what sort of technology I rely on, which isn't a good thing." Joshua reached behind his back and pulled out something else – a small black box that had multiple plugs in it. He took the plug that was stuck in the server and plugged the box in, then leaned back against one of the other boxes and opened his laptop. "Let's see…."

The box started beeping, and Joshua's laptop responded with a low beep as it connected to the wireless signal that was being released to the local area before Joshua pulled out another cord and connected the black box and the laptop together.

"This should help to filter out any possibly damaging programs that my computer won't be able to handle," Joshua muttered to himself.

Then he jumped into the databanks.

The box let out a fizzing, spitting noise; something oozed out of one of the other plugs of the box, causing Joshua to look over at it. He blinked a couple times at the sight of what appeared to be a pink goop of some kind, then shook his head and looked back at the computer screen.

"…whoa."

 _::What is it?::_ Ed chirped curiously.

"This…this data. It's all in _code."_

 _::Ed could break it!::_

"I don't know. This isn't computer code, this is cryptology. I'll see if I can run it through an enigma algorithm, but it may take some time." Joshua pulled up the program and connected it to the data that was streaming through his computer.

 _::Better hurry it up::_ Faye warned. _::We're starting to get company::_

 _::Uh oh. Joshua, these doohickeys of yours had better work, or else I am going to have your head turned into the ship's new AI and use what's left of you for kitchen appliances!::_

"I already get those threats from Ratchet; they've lost any bite for me," Joshua replied, not taking his eyes off the computer screen. "But they are duly noted and I will keep them in mind."

There came a loud swear from the other side of the comm connection, followed shortly by a loud blast that caused Joshua to flinch to one side at the sound. Seemed _something_ worked, at least.

 _Beep!_

Joshua's eyes flicked to a line of code at the bottom of his screen as it started to shift over into something a little more readable…and something vaguely familiar on top of that.

His eyes widened.

 _"The Dark live in shadows. They chase the fire, but only catch embers."_

 _Project: Fire Catch._

As more of the data and words started to decode themselves according to Joshua's algorithm, his eyes moved faster and faster, scrolling through the screen at such a pace that the slight turning his head and the indigo blur that was his eyes almost seemed to make him appear manic or possessed.

Joshua bit his lower lip as he continued to read, not even flinching at the sounds of explosions that were now coming from outside the warehouse and inside his ear.

 _This is….oh no._

There came a low rumbling that turned into a loud lightning clap as part of the wall that Joshua had been standing on the other side of mere minutes ago was blown to dust, sending lab equipment flying and coating the ground and air in a hazy brown fog. This was what caused Joshua to look up and his eyes to come back into focus as they widened in alarm.

He quickly slammed his laptop shut and pulled the cord free from the black box, which was now oozing a myriad of colored sludges that hissed and bubbled at being jostled. His laptop safely stowed away, the Reploid rose to his feet as another figure in the dusty haze started to move towards him.

Joshua's indigo gaze turned into something harder, making his eyes become more like deep sapphire stone then the softer, more human gaze they had been.

"So, you're the little troublemaker." The figure's voice was smooth like water, and his body appeared to be just as relaxed, with his hands in his pockets and a slight slump in his posture that made him look like he was almost at home in the dusty mess of the warehouse-turned-lab. "Really, kid, don't you know it's wrong to go poking around on other people's property?"

"I do. But when those people who own the property are stepping on that which many humans say is incredibly sacred to them, then I should think that my being here is valid," Joshua replied evenly. He clenched and unclenched his right hand, not quite closing his fingers completely with each movement.

"Really?" The other's mouth turned up on one end, revealing his teeth in a casual sneer. "What makes you say that?"

"A person's mind is their sanctuary – a place to turn when they are unable to take their reality. What these people are suggesting is _not_ wise, nor is it ethical."

"Heh. Like you can say that."

The dust slowly started to clear as two more figures moved into the warehouse, running through the hole that had been blasted in the wall.

Faye let out a loud gasp. "Lunkhead!"

"Hmm?" The man Joshua had been staring down turned and looked back at Faye with brown eyes that didn't seem mismatched at first glance. The sneer widened as his eyebrows rose. "Well, this is gonna be fun. Looks like almost all of the gang's all here."

"Spike Spiegel, what the hell have you been thinking?!" Jet demanded. "You said you left that life behind, you moron! You said you weren't going to go back on your word! What made you pull a stupid stunt like this now, huh?!"

Spike's sneering grin vanished in an instant. "You don't know what's going on here, buddy. And I don't think that you're ever going to know for sure." The sneer flickered back into existence. "Because I'm taking you all in before you can figure out anything else about my new boss."

Jet gritted his teeth and brandished his borrowed weapon from Joshua in Spike's face – a laser rifle made of a glinting blue metallic material. "Stand down, Spike."

Spike frowned, and he appeared as though he was going to say something, but then he _jolted_ , eyes widening as sparks shot off from something on the back of his neck. The man then lunged at Jet, despite the fact that there was a weapon pointed in his face, and knocked the larger man back.

"H-hey!" Jet kicked back at Spike, but the skinnier man wove around it and moved to come in for another hit. "Spike, you idiot, what the hell are you doing?"

"I got my orders," Spike growled in reply. "If you aren't going to come quietly, I'm just going to have to shut you all up!"

Faye's eyes widened as Jet continued to move back and away from Spike's punches and kicks, trying to dodge but still getting hit in the side and gut regardless of how he moved. She raised her own shotgun up in order to try to aim at Spike's leg to get him to stop of slow down, but Spike's head turned at the movement and he lunged for her instead. A knee found her chin, sending Faye crashing to the ground.

"Stun Shot!"

Spike turned as a ball of blue electricity was shot towards him and ducked, sending the sphere flying harmlessly over his head as he smirked at Joshua. "So the kid finally makes his move."

Joshua retracted his Buster and clenched his fists; blue electrical sparks shot off his knuckles and zapped over to the black towers on either side of him. "Spike, you are not thinking clearly."

"What are you talking about? My head's the clearest its been in years. I know what I'm doing."

"You've been led to _think_ that you do," Joshua replied. Faye and Jet exchanged looks behind Spike as the Reploid continued, "I don't understand everything that the Black Dragon is planning, but I know enough. I won't allow them to continue these actions here."

Spike's relaxed stance changed in an instant. Gone was the relaxed appearance as his shoulders stiffened and his brow furrowed, frowning to the point that his eyes were in shadow underneath his eyebrows. "Enough talk." He lunged at Joshua, bringing back a fist as though preparing to strike the teenager in the jaw.

He almost struck the boy, but his fist never connected.

Joshua's hands lashed out just before Spike's fist could so much as graze the Reploid's face, blue sparks flying from them, and a pulse of electricity flew from his clenched fists and outwards into an electrical shield that sparked against the black towers on either side of him. The machinery instantly started to smoke and whine, as though coming into contact with Joshua's ability was enough to cause it to start fritzing.

It also caught Spike in the midst of an electrical field.

"Gah!" Spike stumbled back, green-brown hair exploding outward even _more_ than it already had been a moment before. Sparks flew in all directions from something on the back of his neck, and he groaned again and shook his head before glaring back at Joshua.

Only to find himself facing the business end of Joshua's Buster.

"Stun," Joshua said flatly.

 _Bzzzt!_

Spike's eyes rolled into the back of his head, and he slumped down to the floor.

"Spike!" Faye ran forward, discarding her weapon. She knelt down next to the unconscious man and glared up at Joshua. "What did you do?!"

"I knocked him unconscious," Joshua replied. "Considering what it is that is on the back of his neck, my way was better than knocking him over the head with a butt of a rifle."

Faye jerked back at that, her eyes sparking. "Now see here—"

"What's that on the back of his neck?" Jet was kneeling next to Faye now; he turned Spike over onto his side to have a look at his friend's back. "Looks like there's something here that doesn't belong…."

"What?" Faye looked down. "Well, pull it off, then!"

"I wouldn't."

The two of them looked up at Joshua as he came over, deactivating his Buster.

"Why not?" Faye frowned.

"Because according to the data, you'd be pulling off more than just that little black box." Joshua pulled back the back of Spike's shirt collar. "Have a look at this."

Jet frowned. "What in the—are you telling me they stuck this thing to his _spine?"_

"That's what it looks like." Joshua released his hold on Spike's shirt, letting the scar that ran down from the black box – and presumably all the way down his back – become hidden again. "Removing it here and now could cause severe nerve damage. He wouldn't be able to walk again, much less fight."

"What is it, then?" Faye glared at the black box, then up at Joshua.

Joshua took in a breath, his mouth pressing into a straight line. "Ed was right."

"Right about what?" Faye frowned.

"The Black Dragon are researching and experimenting with mind control devices. I can only guess that this," he motioned to the back of Spike's neck, "is the result of that. According to what data I was able to gleam from the system here before I accidentally fried it, they're calling it Project: Fire Catch."

Faye and Jet exchanged looks at that, then looked down at Spike's unconscious form.

"Well, what are we going to do about it, then?" Jet raised an eyebrow. "We can't just leave him like this. And if taking the damn thing out of his spine isn't an option, then there's got to be something else."

Joshua nodded in agreement. "I think I can hack into it, but I'm going to need a place with enough sterile equipment that I can do this quickly. I'd prefer a hospital, but something tells me we're not going to be admitted so easily for this."

Jet snorted. "That's an understatement."

"We could do it back on the _Bebop,"_ Faye suggested. "Just borrow Ed's stuff. And we _have_ medical equipment back there."

"Hm." Joshua frowned. He eyed the blown-open section of wall, the carnage that had resulted from whatever Spike had used to blast an opening, the computer towers hissing and spitting with an electrical surge, and he nodded. "We probably don't have much of a choice besides that. Let's go before we get any more attention when they realize that Spike didn't do whatever job they sent him here for."

 **Project: Fire Catch...hmmm...I wonder what that could be referring to...**

 **But they've found Spike! Huzzah! Now to take care of the thing that's on his neck. That's going to be...interesting.**

 **I'll see you tomorrow with the next chapter!**


	60. Cowboy Bebop Session 5

**Well, where we last left off, we managed to capture a Spike. Let's see what it is that they do with him...**

 **Chapter 60 – Cowboy Bebop Session 5**

Spike woke up with a pounding headache and the feeling that there was _something_ running down his back that shouldn't be there.

That, plus the fact that he was lying on his _stomach_ – not a good position to be in if you need to get up fast for a fight – set off a number of alarm bells in his head that only made his headache worse. He started to move his arms so that he could push himself up so that he could have a better look around, only to notice that he couldn't move them.

A quickly glance revealed the fact that they were strapped down _around his head_ on the surface he was on, which felt like a lab table that had been covered in blankets and pillows. He tugged at the restraints a couple more times, trying to see if he could get his limbs loose, but they didn't budge.

Spike dropped his face into a pillow under his head and muttered a string of curses into it, then looked up blearily to have another look at the area he happened to be in – and if he could figure out a way out.

The first thing he recognized was the color of the metal wall in front of his face. That particular shade of old rust was one that he'd know anywhere.

"What the hell?" Spike turned his head a little in order to look in other directions, noticing what looked like computer equipment lying off to one side. His left arm was in the way, however, so he wasn't able to see all of it, and his head _definitely_ didn't want to move very much. "What just—"

"So, you're awake."

Spike turned his head sharply to the right and winced as a stab of pain went through his head in response. He found himself looking at a teenage boy wearing some kind of cobalt-and-green set of armor, and he had to look up in order to lock his mismatched brown eyes with the kid's indigo. Something about him seemed familiar, but Spike wasn't about to try and figure that out now.

"Who are you?" Spike growled.

"Joshua Langstom," the boy replied calmly. "Welcome back to the land of the self-aware, Spike Spiegel."

"What the hell's that supposed to mean?" Spike tried to raise his arms again, then scowled when he found they still wouldn't budge.

Joshua raised an eyebrow. "You mean you don't remember?"

"Remember _what?_ Everything's been a blur for the last…I dunno, week? What do you want from me, kid?" Spike glared back up at Joshua, then blinked in confusion when he saw that the kid's brow was furrowed in a frown.

"Since you don't remember clearly, I'll fill you in on what has occurred from what I know," Joshua replied evenly. "We are presently on the _Bebop,_ it has been several months since you killed Vicious, and you have been used as an experiment for a mind control device, which was declared successful by the Black Dragon. In the time between Vicious' death and now, your brain has had certain thoughts suppressed and other ones amplified in accordance to what your 'masters' have required of you."

Spike's eyes widened sharply at that. _"What?"_

There came the sound of something scrambling somewhere – sounded like bare feet. Familiar bare feet.

"You really don't remember, then." Joshua sighed and shook his head. "I had been hoping that you would; it would have saved us a lot of trouble and me a lot of concern."

Spike's eyes narrowed. "Well, now that I've answered your questions, how about you answer one of mine? Why the _hell_ am I stuck like _this?"_ He tried to pull his arms out of their restraints again.

"Because of this."

Spike felt something press down on the back of his neck and froze as he felt a tingling sensation run down his spine. "What the—"

"That would be the device they used in order to control your thoughts," Joshua explained. "The only part of it visible is a black box-like device at the base of your neck; the rest is fused to your spine. I can't remove it without irreparable nerve damage to the point that you wouldn't be able to move ever again."

"You can't be serious," Spike said flatly.

"I'm being completely serious." Joshua pressed against Spike's back and he stiffened again as he felt _something_ under his skin that wasn't supposed to be there. "They designed it to fuse with your spine in such a manner that none of your flexibility was lost. It is _joined_ with your nervous system, and that's not something that I have experience with."

Spike gritted his teeth and let out a low growl. "Great. So I've got this thing stuck in the back of my neck and what's stopping them from using it again?"

"Me," Joshua said simply. "I went in and fused a few wires together. It isn't enough to keep them from reaching you, bit it is enough to allow their orders to have no affect."

"Then why am I not hearing them now?"

Joshua held up something that looked like an old Earth relic – some kind of small, thin rectangular strip of metal with a few buttons and a small screen. "This music player is actually a signal dampener. It's designed to make you _look_ like you're listening to music when you're actually blocking out everything else around you. I had thought it would be useful for people such as myself who haven't quite gotten the hang of internal communication systems yet, but I think that you will find it far more useful in your case."

"Uh huh. Right." Spike gave Joshua a lidded stare.

"I could demonstrate by turning it off—"

"No, no, no need to do that, I like my head when it's just _me_ in there, thank you," Spike responded crisply. "I've got a horrible headache as it is, and I don't need tall, dark, and red-eyed to make it any worse."

He blinked a couple times when he registered what it was that he had just said. Joshua stared at him.

"I thought you said you couldn't remember anything," Joshua said carefully.

"Everything's blurry and sounds like I've had my head stuck in a fish bowl for a while," Spike muttered. "Do you _really_ expect me to believe _that's_ a memory?"

Joshua opened his mouth to answer.

"Spike-person is awake!"

Spike flinched a little at the yell as a certain redhead bounced into the room, followed shortly by two actual adults who both looked at him with expressions of concern.

"Bwark! Bwark!"

Oh. And there was a dog somewhere around their feet, too.

"Spike, you feelin' okay?" Jet got into a crouch to better look Spike in the eye.

Spike huffed and rolled his eyes. "What do you think? I've just been told by a kid that I've got a mind control device stuck to my spine and I'm gonna have to keep something with me to keep whatever's on the other end out of my head. On _top_ of that, I've got a headache, and the position that I happen to be in right at this very moment is _incredibly uncomfortable._ So if you wouldn't _mind_ , I'd like to _not_ be in this position."

"…I'll go get some aspirin." Jet moved out of Spike's sight.

A moment later, Joshua started loosening the restraints on Spike's arms, letting him pull his arms back under him and rest them under his chin. When Joshua had pulled the restraints off his legs, he pulled himself up into a sitting position on the lab table-turned-temporary bed.

Spike glanced down and frowned. "You took my shirt off."

"It was the only way to get at the black box on the back of your neck properly," Joshua replied. "That, and I wanted to inspect the scar you have running down your back now."

Spike blinked at that, then put a hand on his back and ran his fingers up his spine. The raised skin that met his fingers, rather than the smooth skin that he had been expecting.

He could feel _something else_ under his skin, too – something that wasn't supposed to be there. His mouth pressed into a straight line as his eyes narrowed, and he pulled his fingers away.

Jet came back with two tablets of aspirin and a glass of water, which Spike quickly downed. "So, what are we looking at now, exactly? We got Spike back, but we've still got bounties on our heads from those Black Dragon morons. Running isn't going to do us any good."

Spike snorted, pulling the now half-full glass away from his mouth. "That's an understatement."

"So we've either gotta go into hiding or do something about these goons who think they can just do whatever they want," Jet finished.

"Especially since they went after _this_ Lunkhead," Faye nudged Spike, getting a glowering expression from the man. "How are we going to take these guys out?"

"Ed wants to help, too!" Ed spoke up.

"You _really_ want to do that?"

They looked over at Spike, who glared at them with a sort of moody expression that made him seem like a wet, mangy cat.

"Well, _duh."_ Faye put her hands on her hips. "What do you expect us to do, just let them do whatever they want?"

Spike turned the glass slowly in his hands.

"They are going to do something to this dimension that should never be done."

Heads turned to look over at Joshua.

"What makes you say that?" Jet frowned. "Your vision?"

"That and the data that I was able to glean from their system before I shorted it out." Joshua patted his laptop, which was sitting on another table nearby. "Project: Fire Catch…I think they're trying to catch a person and use this technology on her."

"Her?" Jet frowned. "What makes you think it's a her?"

"Because I _know_ someone who is capable of catching fire. My cousin – a fellow World Jumper named Maria."

Spike's head shot up, eyes widening. Joshua's eyes widened slightly at the movement.

"So that is what they're planning," Joshua said.

Spike blinked a couple times, then shook his head and he looked back down at his glass. "Name's just familiar, that's all. Think they thought she was coming here or something."

"But I came instead." Joshua paused, considering.

"Why do they want your cousin?" Faye frowned.

"I don't know. She and I have been doing this for two years – my presence on the multiverse can't have left any less of a mark than she has." Joshua frowned. "There must be something else going on here that we aren't aware of, but in order for me to find the answers—"

"You're gonna want to go after the Black Dragon," Spike finished tiredly.

"It's inevitable." Joshua shrugged a little. "Which means we're going to need the location of their stronghold. I'm guessing you've at least been to a place that is connected to it, if you can remember."

Spike frowned. "Sorry, that's not exactly something I've got in my head."

"Well then, how are we going to get there?" Faye folded her arms across her chest.

Joshua fingered the signal dampener in his hand. "We have the signal that they use in order to transmit commands to anyone with what Spike has. And I do mean _anyone_ – it seems to be a universal signal, and I doubt that Spike is the only one who has had this done to him. If we can track it back to its source—"

"Ed can do that!" Ed spoke up. "But Ed's gonna need a place to start."

Spike pointed at the black box stuck to the back of his neck. "Didn't you say something about me possibly getting voices in my head?"

Joshua blinked a couple times at that. "Are you sure? I thought you said you didn't _want_ to—"

"Well, if you're so dead-set on your _death wish,_ don't let me stop you."

"Considering that you already pulled a stunt like that, you Lunkhead, I'm not surprised that you're not holding us back," Faye commented.

Spike over at her with a disgruntled sort of expression that seemed to settle into his face like it was usually there. "Yeah, well, I know better than to stop you when you've got your mind set on something."

Faye blinked a couple times, then grinned. "All right. When do you want to get started, then?"

"Give me a couple hours to get used to a clear head first. Then we'll talk about taking these goons on." Spike tapped the side of his head.

"We'll let you get some rest before we jump on this." Jet clapped Spike on the shoulder, then stepped out of the room.

"We'll make sure the meanies shut up!" Ed chirped. She skipped out of the room after Jet, Ein following right on her heels.

Faye looked at Spike with a knowing look, then turned and walked out without a word, leaving Spike and Joshua behind.

Spike looked back at Joshua and raised an eyebrow. "Cousin, huh? No wonder they put a bounty out on your head."

"I wonder more if it had anything to do with my technology than my family connections," Joshua replied. "I _did_ utilize some things that I haven't seen used in this dimension."

"Hm." Spike inclined his head. "Bet you'd get a pretty penny for getting patents in this dimension."

"I'd rather not mess up your economy by doing that and then abruptly leaving. It might make it harder for you to be able to get money that way."

"Or easier, if you put it in our names." Spike's eyes sparked as he grinned.

Joshua rolled his eyes. "Yeah, maybe. But then you could end up facing off against them, and I'd rather not have to deal with the repercussions of giving you the data on my stasis grenades. If those went galaxy-wide, I'm not sure that your dimension would be able to handle the chaos that could result. The stasis grenades are staying with me."

"If you say so." Spike shrugged. "Don't you have to go get ready for what you're planning or something? What you're planning on doing isn't gonna be easy."

"I don't expect it to be." Joshua paused. "But I suppose I should take stock in what I have and what could be used. Will you be all right staying here or…?"

"I'll be fine. Don't worry about me." Spike waved the Reploid off. "Just…gimme that signal dampener thing."

Joshua handed it over. "Don't mess with it. I haven't told you how to turn it off yet."

"Yeah, yeah." Spike yawned. "I'm gonna take a nap. You get out of here." He lay back down – on his _side_ this time, not his stomach – and eyed Joshua with a meaningful look.

Joshua gave a nod in response, then turned and stepped out of the room.

 **Spike has come back to his senses! Huzzah! I hope I did the cowboy justice.**

 **Tomorrow, things are going to pick up a bit. Gotta find the stronghold before Joshua can get more of his answers, after all. :)**


	61. Cowboy Bebop Session 6

**This'll be the last chapter I post this week, I think. Unless I feel like posting a chapter tomorrow, but I don't know if that's gonna happen - my break is coming to an end, and I've got Stuff to Worry About.**

 **So here we go!**

 **Chapter 61 – Cowboy Bebop Session 6**

They didn't get around to tracking down the location of the Black Dragon stronghold until late the next morning, when Spike finally sauntered out of the infirmary and into the main living space.

Jet threw a shirt, smacking Spike in the face with it. "If you think that you're going to walk around shirtless for the rest of your life, think again."

Spike snorted in response, then pulled the shirt on over his head. "Wouldn't think of it." He looked over at Joshua and Ed, who were sitting side by side on the couch with their computers in front of them. "You two ready to go, then?"

"Yup yup!" Ed nodded vigorously. She grabbed the goggles off the top of her head and let them smack against her face.

"Are you?" Joshua asked.

"Yeah." Spike pulled the signal dampener out of his pocket and tossed it over to Joshua.

"All right. We'll start piggybacking on the signal as soon as I get this off in three…two…."

Joshua pressed on the power button on the side of the device.

Spike winced and clapped his hands over his ears, gritting his teeth as his brow furrowed. His fingers dug into his temples as he collapsed back into an armchair.

"Voices, moices!" Ed called. She started typing quickly, grinning widely. "Ed will shut them up for Spike-person!"

Joshua started typing, as well, latching onto the signal and starting to trace it back. "Are you doing all right, Spike?"

Spike growled. "I'll be…fine. Geez, these guys don't sound happy."

"Really?" Faye leaned over the back of the chair and looked at Spike curiously.

Spike sent her a withering look as Joshua glanced up before looking back at his computer.

"They don't happen to be saying anything important, are they?" Jet asked from behind the couch.

Spike's face scrunched up at the question. "They want the kid's head on a platter. Yours too. I didn't think you'd done anything to make them _that_ mad yet."

"You're all quite important to this dimension, whether you realize that now or not," Joshua replied without looking up. "As for myself…it's more than likely that they see me as a connection back to Maria."

"Mm." Spike frowned. "Sounds like they want me to come back, too – that voice is probably the loudest."

"Where?" Faye asked

Spike spat out a series of numbers at the exact same time that Ed did, causing the two of them to look at each other.

Ed pouted. "Meanie voices took Ed's fun. No fair."

"Coordinates?" Joshua closed the tracing program he'd been running on his computer and pulled out the signal dampener again. As soon as he had pressed the power button again, Spike lowered his hands from his temples and ears. "I hope this isn't out on the planet's surface; that could make this even more difficult."

"Don't think it is." Spike scowled upwards at the ceiling, as though he could glare at the people on the other end of the wireless connection. "I bet I could run back there, actually. Feel like I've been on my feet a lot." He kicked his feet up on the coffee table and sighed. "That's better."

"So, what now?" Faye frowned. "We know where they are."

"Yeah, but that doesn't mean that we're going to be able to get in there easily." Joshua paused. "Unless…." His gaze moved over to Spike.

Spike noticed the look on Joshua's face, and the relieved grin that was on his face dropped abruptly. "Oh, no. No."

"No what?" Jet frowned. "What wavelength are you two thinking on that the rest of us aren't aware of what you're thinking?"

"They have bounties on our heads. They probably think that Spike is still under their control, maybe in a spotty area where he can't get orders from the stronghold, wherever that may be." Joshua drummed his fingers on the top of his laptop as Ed pulled her goggles off and stared at him. "I think you can see where I am going with this."

"You're suggesting we sneak in in plain sight and go berserk when they're probably going to be aiming weapons at us and maybe ready to do to us what happened to Spike?" Jet motioned to Spike. "That's too dangerous, kid."

"We don't have the blueprints for the location, but we do have a way in, and we have my hidden arsenal." Joshua reached behind him and pulled out a stasis grenade before putting it away again, getting a wide-eyed look from Spike. "Jet, do you have anything here that could read coordinates and give us a general location?"

Jet snorted. "Of course I—"

"Already found it!" Ed piped up. She grinned at them. "It's in the city; no space walk."

"Good." Faye let out a sigh of relief. "I look horrible in a space suit."

Jet and Spike snorted and rolled their eyes.

Joshua leaned over and looked at the computer screen as Jet leaned over. "A museum?"

"An _old_ museum," Jet noted. "It has a lot of old Earth technology that is completely defunct. Most people didn't really want to think back to that old time, especially since the moon's blown up and it's been peppering the planet ever since. Old VHS tapes are all the rage among collectors; I think they raided that place a long time ago and cleared it out."

"Hm." Joshua tapped his chin thoughtfully. "There must be a hidden entrance either inside or nearby into their hidden base. I hadn't thought that these creatures who are running the Black Dragon would be so bold to place themselves right in the midst of human life." He frowned. "Regardless, there's no way we would be able to learn the layout of their base before going after them, and I doubt that Spike has been to all parts of it."

"Doubt it," Spike agreed. "It's probably not like I had complete run of the place and _remember everything."_ He looked rather sour.

Ed looked like she wanted to giggle at the look on Spike's face, but she held the laugh back. "Ed thinks that going in blind is a bad idea."

"And Ed's right," Jet agreed. "We need a plan. Going in there and facing whatever is in there without knowing what we're doing _or_ dealing with isn't a good idea."

"I agree, but we are going to be going in blind at least in part," Joshua responded. He paused. "And we shouldn't do this on our own."

"Why not? I took out Vicious myself." Spike shrugged.

"Yeah, but _you_ knew the layout of the building he was in," Jet shot back. "And I mean the _whole_ thing, not some dinky little bit. What, was it only the main area for you? Never the secret labs or other rooms or anything like that?"

Spike winced, and his expression soured even more under Jet's pressing. "Do you really expect me to remember clearly?"

"Well, I would _like_ more of a hint into what we're getting into, other than the fact that the bosses are _supposedly_ red-eyed aliens that are experimenting with mind control! And Spike, you're forgetting the fact that you nearly _killed_ yourself!"

"Well, Jet, how about—"

Joshua winced as the argument (well, more like a shouting match), started to fade into the background and a headache started to creep in from the back of his mind. He closed his eyes tightly and pinched the bridge of his nose, sucking in a breath and setting his jaw before his vision exploded.

 _-red eyes, twisting horns, claws, muscular limbs, black robes, beaked faces—men and women lined up in rows, glazed-over expressions, black boxes on their necks—Joshua, pressed down against the ground as he struggles to rise, a hand pushing something against the back of his neck as his mind starts to tunnel—_

Joshua came back to reality with a gasp, jerking back into the back of the couch and ripping his nose out of his fingers in the process.

"You okay?" Ed asked, concerned. "Got a virus?"

"…no, this isn't one of those." Joshua shook his head. "I've been very careful about…keeping my mind off the wireless connections in this dimension. That was something else. Something troubling."

Jet and Spike looked over at Joshua, their argument seeming to have been paused for the moment.

"What kind of troubling?" Jet asked.

"Another vision." Joshua sighed. "I'm going to have to pull a Maria."

"A what?" Faye frowned.

"I am going to plan a way _in_ for us, but we're going to have to improvise a way _out_. I would prefer it if we had more people on our side, but it appears that we're the only ones who can go in or are even _able_ to go in."

"We got just one chance, then." Jet sighed. "Great. Not the best of chances."

"We don't have much of a chance," Joshua responded. "We don't have much time left before they accomplish whatever it is that they're planning."

"Which is…?"

"As far as I can tell, complete domination of this dimension by using the device on Spike to turn everyone here into nothing more than mindless puppets at their disposal." Joshua's brow furrowed. "I saw myself…." He shook his head. "It doesn't matter. We have to prevent that from occurring."

Ed nodded. "So, what are we gonna do?"

"That, I think, depends on where the entrances into the Black Dragon's stronghold are." Joshua looked over at Spike.

Spike shrugged. "I think there was one down in the basement?"

"The archive storage," Jet corrected.

"Yeah, that. Probably." Spike waved a hand in the air lazily.

"Which means that they have access to the security cameras that are in the museum," Joshua murmured. "If they are still there, that is."

"More than likely, they are." Jet rubbed his chin in thought. "I find it more likely that they upgraded the technology that's there."

"You got more of these signal dampener things?" Spike held up the one that Joshua had given him.

"I have two." Joshua blinked. "But I can create more, if I have the right materials and something to hide it as. That music player is an old model; I can use something similar from here for that. Why do you ask?"

"If these guys think that they can get into my head, what's to stop them from going after everyone else?"

"Considering that they've more than likely done something similar to other members of the Black Dragon? More likely than I'd like." Joshua pulled out another signal dampener that looked like an old music player and held it between two fingers for a moment. Ed snatched it out of his grip and looked it over curiously as Joshua continued, "Which means they could be finding ways to manufacture more of this technology and are constantly improving on it. The reason that they haven't done the same for Spike, more than likely, is because to bring about an upgrade will do more harm than good."

"We should probably be thankful for that, since you managed to do what you did," Jet said. He shot Spike a look and continued, "Which means it might be a good idea if we had those dampeners as well; is that what you're getting at?"

Spike shrugged. "Every little bit helps."

Joshua considered that as Ed poked at the signal dampener in her hands. He reached over and slipped it away from her before she could press the directional buttons too many times. "I agree. I'll recalibrate the signal dampeners I have already so that they can dampen the device's signal like yours can. I'll make sure that there are enough for us, at least. Then I'll give you a basic inventory of the weaponry so that you can choose how to arm yourselves. After that, we'll plan our way in."

"We'd better prepare in our own ways, too." Jet nodded to Faye and Spike. "I vote we keep Ed here, so that she doesn't get into this miss as much as we will be."

"Ed can fight!" Ed argued, frowning.

"That may be, but if these folks have people like Spike under their forced employ, it might not be a good idea for you to come along just in case you get shot – or worse." Jet fixed her with a pointed look. "You're staying put and running reconnaissance for us from here."

Ed scowled and folded her arms across her chest. "Ed wants to be _there."_

"You may as well be, if you're in the system," Joshua pointed out. "I'll let you have access to some of my programs, if you think you need them. No doubt these monsters have something in their systems that is far more advanced than anything on Earth." He paused. "Consider it a challenge."

Ed growled a little. "Fine."

"Let's prepare ourselves, then." Joshua slipped his laptop into his subspace and rose to his feet. "I'll be in the infirmary putting together more signal dampeners and laying out a small selection of weapons that I'm sure you might be interested in using. You're welcome to follow me in and make your selections now or later."

With that, he stepped out of the room.

 **We got things settling into place, it seems. But what is this that is going on with these visions and these red-eyed aliens...? I hope that Joshua can solve it, whatever it is.**

 **I'll see you guys next time with the next chapter! Things are about to come to a head!**


	62. Cowboy Bebop Session 7

**Hey, guys! I'm back with the next chapter! I'm really going to slow down in posting these now - a combination of real life and the fact that you guys are going to be starting in on the last arc soon (and considering that I'm not done with it just yet I am in great need of time).**

 **We'd better get moving - we've got a few things to take care of in the realm of _Cowboy Bebop,_ and everything's coming to a head. Trust me on that.**

 **Chapter 62 – Cowboy Bebop Session 7**

The plan was simple: Spike, while acting as though he was under the Black Dragon's control, was to lead them into the base while pretending they were his prisoners. As soon as they would get inside, they would break loose and cause havoc while working their way through the base and destroying everything that seemed important to the Black Dragon. Ed would be working from a safe location where everyone _hoped_ she wouldn't end up getting caught, allowing her to hack into the systems without physically putting herself in danger.

The trick now was getting inside and being able to do what they were planning in order to take down the Black Dragon before the Black Dragon took them down.

Spike dragged Faye, Jet, and Joshua into the museum forcefully, keeping his face schooled into a dark glare as the other three followed after him, chained together and with their hands tied.

"This is not how I hoped we would get in here," Faye muttered. "Aren't those damn cameras taken out?"

"We need the element of surprise," Joshua whispered back.

Jet clenched his fists tightly, flexing against the bonds around his wrists and testing them before letting his hands relax. "At least we managed to plan _this_ far."

"Shh," Spike hissed back at them.

Spike wove his way through the abandoned exhibits; Joshua let his eyes wander and took in the familiar technology and bits of culture that he knew of not because of museums, but because of his own dimension's present.

Sparks flew from his fingers when he saw the torn-apart car engine they passed, as well as worn and dented frame of a vehicle that had obviously been in an accident of some kind.

"Gas guzzlers," Jet muttered. "You still got those?"

"Unfortunately," Joshua murmured in reply. "Among other things. I've been working on something to help electrical cars push them out of commission."

"Hm."

Spike reached the back of the automobile exhibit and kicked a door open, then tugged them down the stairwell and through another door that had "ARCHIVES" written on it in red. On the other side were rows of desks piled high with books and thin plastic containers that had interesting designs on the covers.

Joshua sighed. "It's a shame no one is interested in taking these books and putting them in proper collections."

"Yeah, we could get a lot of money from selling this stuff," Jet muttered in agreement. Spike's shoulders stiffened up a little. "There are collectors out there who could transcribe this stuff into electronic databanks if they aren't there already, and they'd pay a hefty sum for earlier editions…."

Spike yanked on the chain that connected everyone together, forcing Jet and Faye to stumble into each other and ram into Joshua from behind. "We're wasting time talking about this."

Spike's deadpan tone was enough to snap the others into focus; they looked at each other as Faye and Jet regained their balance and nodded as Spike led them to a back wall where there was an old bookshelf that looked like it had seen better days.

Spike grabbed one of the empty shelves and pushed it up, causing it to jolt and then rumble to the side, revealing a yawning opening that led down a stark white hallway that certainly looked out of place.

Spike took in a deep breath. "Down we go."

Spike could have pulled all of them down the stairs and sent them into a tumbling heap at the bottom, but he moved down at a half-decent pace that was slow enough that none of them slipped on the strange, metal staircase.

"How did they hide this under the city without anyone noticing?" Joshua murmured, frowning. "Curious…"

"More like unnerving," Faye muttered. "Do you think they've been here the whole time?"

Joshua frowned as they reached the bottom of the stairs and started walking down a short corridor. "Something tells me we're going to find out soon enough."

Spike grunted as they stepped out of the corridor and into a dull, gray chamber that had a rounded-off other end, with five open doorways at regular intervals. Standing between them and those doors were two Black Dragon grunts – black trench coats, katanas on their backs, and their arms over their chests as they looked at Spike at the others with frowning expressions.

Spike stopped a couple feet away from them and raised an eyebrow. "What?"

Joshua's fists clenched tightly as the two grunts looked over at Spike, then at the group standing behind him. Their eyes widened in unison.

Then the two grunts reached inside their trench coats and pulled out a shotgun apiece.

"Cover's blown!" Joshua's hands sparked with electricity, and he ripped his hands free from the chain in Spike's hands. The electrical spark ran down the chain's length, causing the metal to bend and the entire metal construct to fall to pieces.

Spike lunged forward and knocked the two grunts' heads together, letting them collapse on the floor. "Pick a door, any door!"

"You got it!" Jet and Faye ran off towards the far right corridor; Joshua and Spike ran down the far left.

"All right, kid, you'd better hope this crazy plan of yours works, because otherwise we're brain dead meat." Spike looked over at Joshua as they dashed down the corridor.

"I know." Joshua pulled something out from behind his back – a silver-colored sphere that looked similar to his stasis grenades, but this one had a blank screen on it and a single button. "I'm glad we checked to make sure that there were no innocents in the area. I'm still expecting casualties, though."

"With something like this, I don't doubt it." Spike pulled out a similar sphere from a pants pocket. "So, what – hold the button until—"

"Just pressing the button primes it; I have them synchronized so that they start counting down as soon as we're ready for them to, not before," Joshua replied. He pressed down on the button on his and tossed it down an adjoining corridor, getting it lodged in what looked like another doorway. Spike threw his in the opposite direction. "We need to get these in as many areas as possible, but I don't doubt that we are going to get ourselves more than a little attention."

"Considering we knocked out the two guys up front, they've probably already noticed," Spike replied. "You got enough power under your hood for that?"

"I should think so. I haven't had as much experience as Maria has combating opponents like this, but I should be able to hold my own."

 _In theory._

"There's the rogue unit! Get him!"

Joshua threw a small sparking ball of electricity behind them, catching their pursuers off-guard as they let out yelps of surprise.

"Rogue unit?" Spike snorted. "What am I, a robot? No offense."

"None taken." Joshua pulled out another bomb and threw it down another corridor. "And that probably is more than likely what they see you as, all things considered."

"Great." Spike's expression soured. "I've got a complaint for the management around here."

"Save it for when we've managed to finish ours!"

Spike laughed and threw another bomb down a different corridor. "We'll have to see if they'd still be willing to listen when you're done with them!"

A burst of static crackled through the air, followed by a growling voice saying something in what sounded like gibberish.

"Whoa!" Spike winced. "Sounds like one of those voices…."

"An alien language?" Joshua tapped his left ear twice. "Running a translation algorithm. Maybe I'll be able to pick something up."

"Well, you'd better hurry it up, because whatever they're saying it sounds like they're mad about it!"

"In that case they're probably mad about you," Joshua responded. He tapped his ear two more times and threw another primed bomb over his shoulder into another corridor. "Considering that you're probably the prototype that got away."

Spike scoffed at that.

"Get them!"

Spike and Joshua both turned their attention to a small group of figures that was ahead of them – more Black Dragon grunts, and these were armed with guns that looked more like small bazookas more than anything else.

Joshua's right arm morphed into his Buster, and he quickly lifted it at the line of five grunts that was ahead of them. "Charge it!"

The Buster glowed for a moment, then shot off a large sphere of blue, sparking energy that collided with the grunts and sent them flying. A thunderclap followed the energy shot a moment later, causing the grunts and Spike to wince at the noise as the two intruders ran past the now-stunned men.

"What kind of gun is that?" Spike rubbed at one of his ears. "It looks like some kind of bazooka!"

"Buster, standard issue," Joshua replied as his arm shifted back. "With a few minor modifications as a result of my chosen main element."

" _Main_ element?"

"I have been known to show some psychic tendencies on occasion. Duck!"

Joshua dropped down and slid across the floor; Spike followed him moments later as a rocket was suddenly sent careening down the hallway from behind them and hit the wall ahead of them, exploding into a cloud of smoke, dust, and fire.

"I was starting to wonder when my clairvoyance would return," Joshua murmured to himself. "But I still have no hint as to what is coming beyond any attacks in the near-future…usually it is much more reliable than that."

Spike shot Joshua a look as he scrambled to his feet and turned in order to see who had been coming after them. "We've got three guys with rocket launchers; what are you going to—"

Three blasts of energy went off in quick succession, hitting the three rocket launchers that were aimed at Spike and Joshua. The resulting explosion blocked the three grunts from view and – more than likely – did more damage than a stun shot would.

Spike looked over at Joshua as the Reploid rose to his feet, tucking a blue-and-white rifle of some kind under one arm.

"At least I know this works close range," Joshua commented. The rifle vanished in a flash of light. "I doubt that Maria would approve of this, however."

Spike stared at Joshua with an odd look as the smoke from the explosion cleared, revealing a rather bloody mess. He probably would have said something, but at that moment the strange language coming over the intercom suddenly switched to English.

 ** _::Rogue Unit 0-0 has been found. Subdue and bring to the Masters immediately::_**

"Dang it." Spike gritted his teeth.

Joshua frowned, his indigo gaze hardening into sapphire stone. "We need to move quickly."

 ** _::Rogue humans in the base; rogue humans in the base. Subdue and bring to the Masters immediately::_**

Spike looked around quickly. "You want to meet those guys that they're talking about?"

Joshua looked at him sharply. "Spike—"

"You want to take these guys out, you gotta chop off the head. I know where they like to skulk around the most in this place, now are you coming or not?" Spike shot Joshua a harsh frown.

Joshua met Spike's gaze with a frown of his own, but he didn't hold it for long. He simply gave a curt nod instead. "Let's go. I don't want them catching us at the last moment when we're ready to get out."

Spike smirked. "All right. Then let's move." He turned and jumped through the hole in the wall in front of them – damage caused by the one rocket that had been shot at the two of them – and Joshua followed after. "They're in the center of the base, so we're pretty close already."

"I thought you said that your memory of this place was hazy." Joshua frowned. He noticed that the hallway was pure white, unlike the gray that the rest of the hallways had been.

"It is. But for some reason, this bit's clearer than the rest of it." Spike ducked around a corner, Joshua following after him. "Probably because of the different colors or something. Probably the only part of this place that's colored like this."

Joshua brushed a hand against one of the walls and pulled it back quickly as a chill ran down his spine. "There's something off about this place. It's too clean, the material doesn't feel right. These aliens…these so-called 'Masters'…just what _are_ they?"

"I think we're about to find out."

Joshua looked ahead of them as he and Spike came to a halt in front of a doorway that looked like it was sealed off. There wasn't a control panel nearby – no keypad, no hand scanner, no anything – that could even hint at a way to open it.

Spike cracked his knuckles, then his neck. "You ready for this?"

Joshua clenched his right fist; sparks flew from his knuckles as he held back on activating a shift over to his Buster. "We don't have time to make ourselves ready."

Spike nodded, then walked over to the sealed doorway and rapped against it with the back of one hand.

For the moment when Spike stepped back, nothing happened. But then the door _warped_ and _shifted,_ rippling outwards like a pond that had been lifted up – intact – at a 90-degree angle and someone had just thrown a rock at it. A moment later, the entire door rippled out of existence.

Joshua's eyebrows shot up when he saw the dark gray chamber beyond, but then he settled into a darker glare as sparks flew from his fingertips. He sucked in a breath in order to calm himself, then stepped into the next room.

Multiple pairs of glowing red eyes with irises so black that Joshua couldn't see the pupils in them snapped open and focused on him.

 ** _"The child of sparks and minds,"_** one of the monsters hissed. Its – probably _his_ – voice was garbled and hissing, not used to English words or being translated through whatever algorithm Joshua had set up – the Reploid wasn't entirely sure. **_"Willingly accepting his destiny."_**

"My destiny does not lie with you," Joshua responded, even as his mind went back to the vision that he'd had before his arrival in this base. "Your destiny does not lie here, either. You do not belong in this dimension's story for long."

He reached behind his back as hisses filled the chamber.

"Kid, I don't think saying that was a good—"

 ** _"Silence,"_** hissed one of the voices.

Spike made a gagging noise in response and started coughing. Joshua felt a chill run down his spine in response.

Something large and heavy landed in Joshua's hand.

 ** _"If you do not accept your destiny, then you will have it given to you."_** A large, black, wrinkled, clawed hand came out of the shadows and pointed at Joshua. **_"Restrain him."_**

"H-hey! What the—"

Joshua lunged forward as Spike's yelp came from behind him, bringing his hand around in front of him and hefting a large bazooka onto his shoulder. Metal clamps came down around his shoulder pad and upper arm, effectively anchoring the large weapon in place.

Joshua leaned upwards just as Spike reached him and pulled the trigger.

The large blue sphere of energy that exploded from the barrel burst off into smaller spheres in all directions, lighting up the room just seconds before the spheres collided with the monsters that stood in the shadows – large, wraith-like creatures with large horns that curled upwards or stuck straight out on either side of their strangely humanoid heads, and thin, spindly fingers and hands, the rest of their bodies hidden underneath strangely ragged, black robes that shimmered as the attack went flying towards them.

Then the spheres hit their marks, and the resulting noise sounded like pigs squealing as nails were dragged down a chalkboard.

Joshua fired again, then dropped the bazooka off his shoulder and hid it away again before turning and looking at Spike. "We have to go – now!"

Spike blinked a couple times, a glazed sort of expression in his eyes fading. He gave a quick nod. "Right. Let's get out of here before those things decide they want me to take you apart!" He turned and dashed out of the room and down the hall; Joshua followed after him – but not before throwing five bombs into the room with the aliens and sealing the door shut behind him.

 _::Kid, we're just about done over here!::_ Jet's voice was slightly higher-pitched than normal, sounding rushed.

"Get out!" Joshua called back. He pulled out a small switch from his subspace – a cylindrical device with a red button on one end. "We have five minutes before we're caught up in the fire storm!"

He pressed down on the button.

 **Time Break**

 _"—charges on the Cowboys Spike Spiegel, Jet Black, Faye Valentine, Joshua Langstom and…Edward Wong Hau Pepelu Tivrusky IV have been dropped as a result."_

"Finally, they get to the good part." Spike took a drag on his cigarette.

Joshua hummed in agreement, then went back to tinkering with his laptop as the news on the holoscreen continued.

 _"What about the aliens that were down there?"_ the male anchor asked his partner. _"You'd think that there would be some body part left down there after that big boom that threw three abandoned city blocks sky high."_

 _"The government's being pretty hush-hush about it, but we did catch a picture of something on candid camera!"_ the female anchor grinned before a picture of the wreckage of the base came onto the screen, showing a large, spindly, black skeletal hand.

Spike turned off the holoscreen. "That's enough of them."

"Of course the government is going to keep as much about it quiet as possible." Faye rolled her eyes and huffed.

"Ed wishes Ed could have seen them," Ed spoke up from the couch.

Spike shook his head. "Yeah, no. Those things look like they came out of some old Earth horror movie or something. Be glad you _didn't_ see them."

Joshua paused in the middle of screwing back on the outer casing of his laptop. "I still don't understand why they attempted this now. If they had built themselves into the city's foundation, they would have started to make themselves known far sooner under a name other than the Black Dragon. Why choose this particular point in time to start to make their move?"

"Who cares?" Spike threw his hands into the air. "They're dead, let's just forget this ever happened and get back to bounty hunting."

Joshua's brow furrowed. "It can't be that—" He winced suddenly as pain exploded between his ears, causing him to put his left hand to his temple.

 _-Darkness—rows of men/women/creatures blankly staring—dark creatures standing behind—before—_

Joshua winced again as the inside of the _Bebop_ flashed back into view, the vision ending abruptly and leaving a feeling of dread in his stomach.

"You okay, kid?" Faye asked.

Joshua lowered his hand from his temple. "They aren't done yet."

Spike shot him a look as Ed stared at him with a wide-eyed expression. "What are you talking about? Of course they're done."

"In this dimension, yes. I should have noticed sooner – the red eyes, Maria's mentioned nightmares, Belle's warning—"

"Belle?" Faye repeated in confusion.

Joshua rose to his feet. "I have to go back and warn Maria. Now."

"You said you were gonna show me how to make things!" Ed complained.

"I will come back and take care of that," Joshua replied. "But for now, there's something coming that Maria _has_ to know about."

"Kid, you're not making any sense," Faye frowned. "How would those things _get_ to your cousin? They're form _this_ dimension, aren't they?"

"I don't know, but there are more of them out there somewhere – they've not only managed to place themselves in multiple dimensions, but their plans are the exact same to what nearly happened here." Joshua gathered up his tools and his laptop before throwing them into his subspace. "I have to go back home and warn Maria so that she has a better idea of what's coming. I'll come back when I know the threat's passed."

"Be careful, kid." Spike fixed Joshua with a deep frown.

Joshua gave a nod in response, then snapped his fingers. Sparks flew from his fingertips, forming a portal beside him.

"Whoa…." Ed's jaw dropped.

"I'll come back," Joshua repeated. Then he stepped through the portal and onto his home street.

He ran straight for Maria's house and rapped against the front door.

Morgen Carlsdale, Maria's father, answered the door, and looked down at Joshua with a surprised expression. "Joshua?"

"I need to talk to Maria," Joshua said, his words stumbling over each other in an attempt to get out quickly.

Morgen's brow furrowed. "You just missed her, kiddo. She left for Kalos an hour ago."

Joshua's mouth stretched into a thin line as his expression paled. "No…I'm too late."

"Don't you kids have some way to contact each other—"

"I wouldn't dare; not when there's a chance that our communications could be monitored." Joshua shook his head. "Besides, Wildfire informed me when Dr. Pines arrived that she wasn't able to get through to Maria – I investigated, and our dimension has turned into an interdimensional _dead zone._ " Joshua paused. "What about Matt and Liz?"

Morgen shook his head, getting an electronic-sounding noise in response from Joshua. "What's this about, Joshua?"

Joshua looked up at Morgen with a grim expression. "Our world and Maria are in danger, and it's all my fault for not seeing the put-together pieces far sooner."

Morgen frowned at that, his expression shifting slightly as something sparked in his eyes, but it was gone in a moment. "Get somewhere safe and hide, Joshua."

Joshua blinked at the hard tone in Morgen's voice and looked up at him in confusion. "What?"

"Get to your lab and _hide_ until all this blows over," Morgen said. His gaze softened slightly. "Everything's going to turn out all right. Maria's strong; she'll be able to take care of herself."

"She won't do very well against these opponents," Joshua argued.

Morgen put a hand on Joshua's shoulder. "She will. Now go – before these things get you too."

Joshua blinked. "Mr. Carlsdale, do you know about—"

"Get moving, kid! You're wasting time standing here!" Morgen lowered his voice. "You'll figure out what I'm talking about soon enough, son; now get moving and make sure that you're going to be safe for as long as possible. Maria will find you when all this blows over."

Joshua hesitated on the Carlsdale's front porch, then nodded shakily and turned and bolted down the street towards his lab.

If those monsters were coming, he had to make sure that his inventions weren't going to fall into the wrong hands.

As soon as the Reploid was out of sight, Katie came up behind Morgen. "You didn't tell him?"

"It'd change things a bit too much," Morgen replied. He sighed as he closed the front door and turned to look at his wife. "We'd better get ready for what's coming."

Katie bit her lower lip for a moment, then nodded in response. "Right."

 **What is it that Katie and Morgen are talking about? And what is going on with these aliens that Joshua just clobbered with the _Bebop_ crew? Hmm...**

 **Next time I post, we'll be starting up the final arc - Kalos! This one's gonna be slightly longer than the other arcs, but I hope to have this whole story done at about 76 chapters or so. Not too long, thankfully.**

 **So I'll see you guys next time with the start of the final arc!**


	63. Kalos part 1

**Second chapter this week! Right now I'm ten chapters ahead of you guys on this, and I'm nearly done writing the arc, too! Which means that I'm going to be able to say in a month or so that I am completely and utterly done writing this fic. Ha ha!**

 **(Plus it's kinda my birthday so I wanted to celebrate by dropping this guy on you guys)**

 **Shade scribe - I'm glad you were able to catch up! And yeah, things are definitely picking up behind the scenes, all things considered. Heh heh. Kinda wonder what sort of bad news it is that Joshua found... We won't get to that for a little bit yet, though! We've got to get Maria through Kalos, first!**

 **So here we go!**

 **Chapter 63 – Kalos, part 1**

Maria stomped out of the portal in her jeans, orange jacket, and red T-shirt, a familiar red and white baseball cap with Sonic the Hedgehog's spin dash symbol worn backwards on top of her head. "Stupid Team Flare and Lysandre pulling their stupid stunts after _stupid_ Cyrus got his butt kicked by me _and_ Khrista."

"Maria?"

Maria blinked as the portal closed up behind her and looked up from the cobblestone street. A short distance away in front of a house was a familiar brown-haired, blue-eyed girl with a red T-shirt that had a miscolored yellow Master Ball on it.

"Khrista?" Maria blinked in confusion.

"Uh…yeah?" Khrista gave a short laugh and walked over into the middle of the street. "What are you doing here?"

"Looking into taking care of those Team Flare goons." Maria frowned. "Have you been here all summer? You've been gone since June!"

"What, you mean it's August now?" Khrista blinked.

"Yeah, it is." Maria folded her arms across her chest. "You slipped out without a word!"

Khrista snorted. "Like I'm able to say where I'm going before I get teleported across time and space. I guess you came around because Team Flare's up to something?"

Maria's expression soured. "Yeah. You having trouble with them?"

"A little; they've started to make themselves known, but they haven't done anything big yet."

"Sounds like I came right on time, then." Maria cracked her knuckles. "Let me pull out my Dex and summon a team and we can root them out before they can get to Xerneas or Yveltal."

"What, you're not gonna get a starter and go through the region like you normally do?" Khrista frowned and raised an eyebrow. "If you go ahead and get everybody, then you're going to attract a lot of attention."

"So?" Maria raised an eyebrow, her PokeDex already in hand. "Everybody knows that I'm a five-region Champion."

"It's been a couple years, they know you're traveling around, and I doubt that they think you're coming back," Khrista replied flatly. "It might be better if you snuck up on them; Lysandre could be ready for you otherwise." She motioned with her head towards a street that led away from the houses and down towards an open gate. "Come on. There's a group of kids with Prof. Sycamore in the next town over. I figured you might be coming, so I got him to bring a couple extra Pokémon, just in case."

Maria stared at Khrista as her friend started down the street; she shook her head and followed after her. "You figured I'd come? You _waited_ for me, rather than take Team Flare on?"

"Well, yeah. I mean, you were talking about coming back, so I figured you'd want to take these guys on." Khrista smirked. "I'll do clean-up duty, just in case."

Maria raised an eyebrow at her friend, then snorted and shook her head. "All right, fine. But I'm going to go through this fast – I'm not going to take a year in order to travel around this place. Kalos may be big, but I'm not going to let that slow me down."

"Yeah, yeah, you and your hoverboard are going to cut time down." Khrista rolled her eyes as they left the street behind and passed through the gate onto a dirt road.

"Something else to help, too." Maria held up her PokeDex. "Guys, I'm in Kalos. There's a goonie group named Team Flare that's around causing trouble. Xerneas and Yveltal – the Legendaries for life and death – are the ones that they'll probably be going after. Zygarde maybe, too. If you can get anybody over here to poke around while I'm taking the usual Trainer route, that'd be great. Khrista's with me, so I've got an extra pair of eyes, but I'm going to need eyes where we're not. I'll leave it up to you guys as to who's gonna pop over here; I'm pretty sure my Dex is gonna be region-locked in a few minutes."

There came a crackling noise from the device. _::Thanks for the heads-up, Guildmaster! And welcome back!::_

"It's good to be back," Maria replied with a grin. She lowered the PokeDex and slipped it back into her subspace as they passed through the gate on the other side and into the next town over. More cobblestones were soon clattering upon contact with Maria's metal feet.

Khrista looked down at Maria's feet and raised an eyebrow at her, causing the Reploid to shrug in response.

"There they are! And right on time, as well – Khrista, your power of clairvoyance could make Olympia jealous!"

Maria's and Khrista's heads shot up at the call. They looked over to their left and caught sight of a group of five ten-year-olds and a man with curly black hair.

The man was waving at the two of them, his lab coat flapping a little in the gentle breeze. "Greetings, Maria! I have been waiting for this day for a long time!"

"Professor Sycamore?" Maria came over to where the group was sitting around one of the tables behind a café. Khrista followed after her.

"Indeed! It seems my reputation precedes me!" The man laughed.

"You don't mean – the _Champion?"_ a girl with her brown hair tied up in pig tails looked at Maria with wide eyes. "Wow! I didn't think that I'd ever get to meet you in person!"

A boy with a shock of orange hair looked at Maria with a dropped jaw. "I-I didn't think I'd ever get to see such a famous Trainer up close like this before!"

Maria chuckled a little, a slight smile appearing on her face at the looks she was getting.

"Are you here to go through the League like what you did with the other regions?" a girl with blond hair asked, her head cocking to one side slightly.

"Well, I guess that's the plan now. When I heard that Team Flare was around, I wanted to go straight after them, but Khrista mentioned that they might be ready for that kind of thing." Maria sent Khrista a knowing look. "Apparently, people don't think I'm gonna pop up because I've been in other places for the last couple of years now?" Maria looked back at the others and shrugged.

Sycamore nodded. "Quite, quite. So!" He clapped his hands together. "I assume that you are all more than prepared to choose your new partners, then? I have six Pokémon here who are looking forward to finding their new Trainers."

"But…there's seven of us." The dark-haired boy next to the blond girl looked around at the group.

"I won't be getting one." Khrista shook her head as the others looked over at her.

Maria frowned at that. "Why not?"

"I've already got a Pokémon." Khrista reached into a pocket and pulled out a PokeBall. "I'll show her off in a little bit, when you guys have chosen yours."

Sycamore brought out two cylindrical capsules with three PokeBalls inside each. "Now, I do recall that three of you expressed interest in a specific Pokémon when you took an internship from me recently. Tierno? I have a Pokémon for you from Hoenn." Sycamore popped open one of the cylindrical capsules and picked up one of the PokeBalls before handing it over to the round boy who had been gaping at Maria as soon as she had arrived.

"O-oh!" Tierno took the PokeBall in both hands and inspected the round capsule. His expression brightened instantly. "A Lotad! Yes!"

"Trevor." Sycamore handed the next PokeBall over.

The orange-haired boy accepted the PokeBall. "A-a Pichu? I'll make sure to take care of him."

"And Shauna." Sycamore handed the last PokeBall to the girl with the pigtails.

Shauna peered through the red upper half of the PokeBall and squealed. "An Eevee! So cute!"

Maria's eyebrows shot up. "Those are rare Pokémon."

"Not in Kalos." Trevor shook his head. "There's an area where a group of them live wild. Some of them can evolve into an entirely different evolution than the other six."

 _"Really?"_ Maria's eyebrows rose even higher. "I'll have to look into that while I'm here."

"Speaking of which." Sycamore pushed the other cylinder forward, popping it open. "These three came in recently from some of the local breeders – the three rarer Pokémon that I might give to prospecting Trainers. Fennekin, Chespin, and Froakie. Choose, my friend!"

Maria's gaze moved from Sycamore and the other kids – who were watching her expectantly – to the three PokeBalls that were sitting in front of her. She bent forward a little closer to get a better look at the three Pokémon sitting inside.

A frog, a little creature that looked like some kind of chipmunk wearing a hoodie, and….

"Well, hello there, little one." Maria picked up the third PokeBall, smiling a little at the little fox that was sitting inside.

"Fennekin," Sycamore identified. "Do you want to go with the Fire-Type?"

"Yup." Maria ran her thumb around the PokeBall, then pressed on the button on the PokeBall's front.

The PokeBall exploded open, and Maria caught the little yellow fox in her arms before she blinked in surprise at the tufts of red fur that were sticking out of the little Pokémon's ears.

"Good idea!" Shauna tossed her PokeBall open, releasing the little brown and white Pokémon and catching it in her arms. "Hi!"

"Vee!"

At least, that's what most of them heard. Maria and Khrista both heard the little Eevee say "Hi!"

The Fennekin sniffed at Maria's arms. "You smell funny."

Maria looked down at the little Pokémon. "Funny?" She blinked a couple times, then snorted and nodded. "Oh, yeah; I suppose I would smell a little funny. I'm not exactly like everybody else that way. My name is Maria."

The Fennekin's nose twitched, and her red eyes blinked for a moment before her eyes widened. "You mean…the Wandering Guildmaster? You're finally _here?"_

Maria blinked a couple times at that, then smiled and nodded. "Yeah, that's right. I'm the Wandering Guildmaster."

The Fennekin's eyes sparkled like rubies as the others looked at Maria with odd expressions.

"Wandering Guildmaster?" the dark-haired boy repeated. The frog Maria had seen before was sitting on his shoulder now, staring at her with wide eyes. "What kind of title is that?"

"It's one that I earned," Maria replied. She rubbed a couple fingers between the Fennekin's ears, causing the little fox to lean into her and purr a little. "The Pokémon that I've befriended call me that. And I think that I'm going to call you…Delta."

Delta looked up at Maria with sparkling, eager eyes.

"I didn't think that I'd get to see the Wandering Guildmaster," said the frog was sitting on the boy's shoulder.

"You must have a lot of Pokémon who are willing to help you whenever you need them!" Shauna exclaimed.

Maria chuckled, her expression softening a little. "Yeah."

"I-I heard that you can summon them through your PokeDex…right?" Trevor asked.

"Yup. Although, if I'm starting all over, I'm gonna have to get it region locked so that I can only use Pokémon from Kalos." Maria pulled her PokeDex out of her subspace with one hand, still holding Delta in her other arm against her chest.

"If you'll allow me." Sycamore motioned for Maria to hand him the device, which she did so readily. "I have some experience in this sort of thing…a Unova model, is it?"

"Yeah." Maria nodded. "I sort of live over in that area of my home dimension, and I've kind of gotten rather attached to it."

"Well, that is to be expected. Let's see…." Sycamore pressed the screen a few times, keeping the Unovan PokeDex angled away from the rest of the group so that they were unable to see what it was that he was doing. After a moment, he nodded and handed the PokeDex back. "There we go; it should be ready to pick up data on Kalos-only Pokémon, now. You can use Pokémon that you catch here that are found in other regions, as well. Kalos is quite large, after all, so I wouldn't expect you to keep yourself to just new Pokémon that you hadn't come across before."

"Thanks." Maria took the PokeDex from Sycamore and activated it again. "Central Kalos….Hm."

"Hey." Khrista nudged Maria, getting her to look away from her PokeDex. "Now that we've got Pokémon figured out, how about you get things broken in for old time's sake? Wanna pull a rival thing?"

"I would like to fight you."

Maria blinked at the statement, then looked up and over at the voice, catching the eyes of the girl who had chosen the chipmunk with the green hoodie, which is standing by her feet.

"My name is Serena; this is my brother, Calem." The girl nodded to the boy next to her, who gave a nod in greeting. "We just moved here from Kanto."

"Ah." Maria inclined her head slightly. She smirked, then looked down at Delta. "What do you think? Would you up to a spar?"

Delta inclined her head at that, then nodded. "Yeah, I think so."

"All right then."

"Let's clear a space for this." Sycamore motioned for them to step away from the table and into the street.

Delta leapt out of Maria's arms as soon as she and Serena were standing across from each other; the Chespin that had been following Serena moved in front of his Trainer and tried to glare at Delta in an intimidating manner.

Delta simply frowned at him in response as Maria tapped the screen on her PokeDex a few times.

Sycamore moved between the two of them in a referee position. "And begin!"

Maria looked up from her Dex. "Scratch!"

Delta lunged forward and slashed at the Chespin with her claws, causing the other Pokémon to cry out in pain before letting out a low growl into one of Delta's ears that caused her to flinch and retreat back a short distance before going in again for another Scratch.

"Yii!" Chespin ducked as Delta scratched him again, then flailed his arms right before two vines came out from somewhere on his back and smacked the Fire-Type back.

"Nice Vine Whip!" Serena encouraged. "Let's keep weakening them! Keep Growling!"

Maria glanced down at her PokeDex, then her eyebrows shot up and she looked back at the battle as Chespin prepared another growl. "I don't think that's going to help you much. Ember!"

Delta pulled her head back, then spat out a small burst of flame that hit Chespin square in the chest. The little animal cried out in pain in response and reeled back, little arms pinwheeling.

Delta spat another Ember at the Chespin, this time getting the little Pokémon in the face before he collapsed.

"Looks like Maria wins!" Sycamore's blue eyes were sparking with excitement. "You both used wonderful strategies, but it appears as though one was far more quick-thinking than the other!"

"Nice job, Delta." Maria got down on one knee and patted the Fennekin between the ears again, grinning.

"That wasn't as exciting as I thought it was going to be." Delta frowned.

"It'll get more exciting the further along we get," Maria reassured. "We're going to need more teammates, too." She looked over at Serena. "That was a good match. I wasn't expecting that these two would know their elemental attacks already."

"Yeah; it was a bit of a surprise to me, too," Serena agreed. "I guess things are just different here than they were in Kalos."

"Certainly seems like it." Maria motioned for Delta to jump into her arms again, which the little Fennekin did so. "So, do you want to be rivals with me, then?"

"R-rivals? Me?" Serena pointed at herself in surprise, then shook her head. "I don't think that I'd be able to handle it."

"Friendly sparring partners, then," Maria amended. "We can measure each other's strength whenever we feel as though we've grown by a significant amount; does that work?"

Serena cocked her head to one side a little as Sycamore pulled a Revive from his coat and snapped it under the Chespin's nose. "Yeah, I guess so."

"Can we all be sparring partners?" Shauna asked. "Even Khrista?"

"You said you were going to show us your Pokémon when we'd chosen ours." Calem looked at Khrista pointedly. "So what is it?"

Khrista blinked at that, then smirked a little and tossed her PokeBall. "Hey, Evie!"

The PokeBall exploded open, and out came a little, cat-like Pokémon with gray fur and wide, purple eyes.

Shauna squealed as her Eevee went over to investigate the new Pokémon. "An Espurr! How cute!"

"But aren't those Pokémon known to be extremely dangerous because of their Psychic abilities?" Trevor asked nervously.

"I'm planning on working with her in order to help her control them," Khrista explained. "That, and I kinda attracted her attention as soon as I got here, and I wasn't about to say no."

Evie hugged Khrista's leg and looked at all of them with wide, nervous eyes.

"Well, I wish you luck with that one," Trevor said nervously.

"Hey, if I'm friends with the girl who learned how to work with a Gengar like Geetz and am one of the Trainers who Cyrus nabbed in the Second Attempt, I think I can handle it." Khrista grinned.

"Second Attempt?" Maria repeated. "Is that what they're calling it?"

All the kids and Professor Sycamore gained grim expressions at that.

"Yes, it is," Khrista replied. "Red came up with the name."

"Of course he did." Maria rolled her eyes and smirked, then clapped her hands together. "Well, enough about that! I'm going to have a look around town and see if I can buy any supplies. Considering that I left my account open to be used by the profs whenever they needed research money, I hope there's at least a little bit left to help me get started."

Sycamore's grim expression fell away instantly, and he burst out laughing as Khrista stared at her friend in surprise. "Considering how much you have in winnings and how much your Pokémon add to it on a regular basis, I should think that there is more than enough left for you to buy some basic supplies – and then some! Just remember that you still need to get a proper license here in Kanto and let the League know that you're attempting a challenge before you buy any Max Potions."

"I doubt that I'm going to need anything like that at this stage," Maria replied with a grin. She looked down at Delta. "Come on; let's go have a look around before we keep moving; we're going to need some more team members, you know!"

"Right!" Delta nodded in agreement.

"I had time to walk around Aquacorde before you got here," Khrista said, nodding to Maria. "I can get you straight to the shop no problem."

"We should probably get moving, too," Calem added. "Daylight is wasting, and Nin and I have some training to do before we go over to the next town."

"Yeah!" The Froakie on his shoulder agreed.

The younger children started to scatter, then – some went back to the area that Maria and Khrista had just come from, and others moved ahead into what looked like a town square.

As Sycamore started to leave the café, Maria tapped him on the arm. "Do you know if there are any Mobians in the region? Or are they all scattered over the rest of the world?"

Sycamore paused at the question and tapped his chin. "Mobians? Hmm…I believe that the one called Amy is in Lumiose City presently. I've seen her pass by my Pokémon Lab a number of times – perhaps you could stop by there when you reach it? My aides might be able to help you find her if you like."

"That'd be great, thanks." Maria nodded.

"Well, I'm off, then! Adieu, my friend! I hope that we meet again soon!" Sycamore gave a flourished bow, then turned and walked down to the square and across the bridge to the dirt road of grass beyond.

"Time we get everything we're going to need so we can move out." Maria grinned, then started down into the town square herself, Delta in her arms and Khrista and Evie following after her.

 **We got a nice little start here. Of course, not everything is going to be easy...heh heh.**

 **I'll see you next time with the next chapter!**


	64. Kalos part 2

**Back again! I'm still a good ten, maybe eleven chapters ahead of you guys, so posting two or three times a week for now shouldn't be a problem.**

 **Anyway, we've got to get things moving here! First Gym, coming up!**

 **Chapter 64 – Kalos, part 2**

Maria burst out laughing as she stepped into the next town. "Man, that was a walk in the park! I don't know why that kid at the entrance was saying that it's a maze in there. Kinda reminded me of the Viridian Forest, actually."

"I think I heard something about that Santalune Forest having the exact same route," Khrista commented. Evie sat on her shoulder, using her Trainer's head as a support. "That area we just passed through _was_ packed with a lot of Caterpie and Weedle. I think I saw a couple Pikachu, too – why didn't you go for one of those?"

"I want to try to get as many Pokémon that I haven't used before as possible while also having a well-rounded group," Maria replied pointedly. "I spotted a Bunnelby in the undergrowth with a PokeExplore Badge, so I know that Pika's been recruiting in the area, at least."

"Pika?" Delta – who was walking beside her Trainer – looked up at her curiously. "Is that the name of the other Guildmaster?"

"Yup." Maria grinned. "Pika was my partner back when I was a Vulpix. He runs the guild with his mate and kids for the most part. I think he's been intending to check in on me, but I haven't seen him or called him in since we kicked Cyrus into the Distortion World before…" She trailed off as Khrista's gaze became a little grim, and Maria shook her head. "Anyway, I'll probably try to get into contact with him later, and the Mobians, too. Tails will probably want to make sure that I'm doing okay, since the last time he saw me was at Smash Worlds when Wily was after my head again."

"Who's Wily?" asked the blue monkey that was hopping along on Maria's other side.

"Sounds like a meanie," chirped the red-orange, black, and white bird that was flying above the monkey Pokémon.

"He was a meanie." Maria nodded seriously. "He's been arrested, though, so he's not going to be coming after us anytime soon, Tim."

"Good!" The Fletchling gave a firm nod in response.

"Why would anybody want to be a meanie to you, Guildmaster?" asked the little worm-like Pokémon that was clinging to her shoulder. "You're so nice…."

"Unfortunately, Vivi, not everybody thinks the same way." Maria shrugged the shoulder the Scatterbug wasn't sitting on. She stopped in front of a fountain that had a Roselia as its centerpiece and looked around, hands on her hips.

The blue monkey – a Panpour – looked up at the fountain and jumped up onto the edge of it. "That water looks so nice…."

"I wouldn't go in there, little guy!" called out a new voice. Maria and Khrista turned upon hearing the voice and saw a teenage girl wearing a helmet and roller skates glide up to them. "They cleaned out the pipes recently, so the water's still got a little chlorine in it. It might be a while before it's safe for Pokémon to swim in it again."

"O-Oh…." Panpour looked down at the water unhappily, then jumped back off the edge of the fountain.

"Thanks for the heads-up; I was about to let Pour go in there." Maria nodded to the skater.

"No problem." The skater moved a little closer in. "Hey, are you one of those late starters I hear about sometimes? The kids who hold back on going on Pokémon journeys for a few years until they're older?"

Maria exchanged looks with Khrista, who rolled her eyes a little. "…Something like that."

"Uh-huh. Well, it's cool that you're still getting to go out and wander around for a bit – oh, hey, that's a Fennekin! That's one of the Pokémon that Professor Sycamore hands out!" The skater got into a crouch in front of Delta, who looked back up at the skater curiously. "Aw, it's so cute. I wish that I'd managed to get one."

"I'm glad that I did," Maria replied with a laugh. "I'm looking forward to seeing what Delta can become."

"I think there's supposed to be a Gym in this town, right?" Khrista asked, looking around. She wasn't able to move her head too much because Evie was clinging to it, and she didn't want the Espurr to get knocked off her shoulder.

The skater rose up from her crouch and nodded. "Yeah, Alexa's – say, before you go in there, do you guys want a couple pairs of roller skates? They can strap right on to the bottoms of your shoes if you want to try them out."

Maria's expression lit up at the question.

"Why do you have a couple extra pairs on you?" Khrista asked, raising an eyebrow. Something whapped against Maria's back, about where her hoverboard was attached. Maria glanced back to see what it was, but didn't catch sight of anything nearby.

"My little sibs are getting into it, but I bought pairs that were a bit too big and I wasn't about to let them go to waste," the skater replied. She shrugged. "I could show you how to put them on, if you wanted."

"I can take a pair, but my friend can't," Khrista spoke up. "She's got a hoverboard, anyway."

Maria's expression soured, but then her face relaxed into a more neutral expression as she nodded. "Yeah, yeah, I kinda do."

"Kinda?" Khrista snorted.

"Can I see—" The skater was cut off as Maria reached behind her and tapped the hidden pack on her back, causing it to unfold into a fully sized, red and orange hoverboard that she held like a surfboard. "Whoa…that is so awesome! Where did you get it?"

"A friend gave it to me," Maria replied. "I guess that…kinda makes up for the fact that putting skates on my feet might be a bad idea."

The skater blinked in confusion for a moment. Her eyes widened a moment later, and she nodded a little. "Ah, gotcha. So, are you two going to be taking on the Gym in town?"

"That's the plan," Khrista replied as Maria put the hoverboard back. "You know where it is?"

"Sure; it's down that street over there." The skater pointed down a street that was parallel with another street with the Pokémon Center on it. "Here's your skates, by the way." She handed a pair of what looked like harnesses of some kind with wheels stuck to the bottom of them. "Just strap them onto your feet and off you go!"

"Sweet; thanks!"

"And maybe you can borrow them every once in a while so you can practice; maybe you'll manage to not trip over your own feet." The skater patted Maria's shoulder with a confident smile, then turned and skated off.

Maria and Khrista exchanged looks at the skater's words.

Maria snorted and rolled her eyes. "I wish it was that simple, honestly."

"Why isn't it?" Vivi asked.

"I'm…I'm different, from regular people. It's kinda complicated, but basically I can't ride a bike or use roller skates unless they're built to handle me specifically." Maria shrugged a little, then shook her head. "Let's not think about that right now; we've got a Gym to take on, and I'd rather not leave that challenge waiting more than it needs to be." She grinned at the thought of the challenge.

"We're taking on our first Gym so soon?" Pour asked in surprise.

"Well, yeah, unless it's a Kanto scenario where the first Gym we come across is the last one I get to fight." Maria shrugged. "We won't know until we go over there and poke around. You guys wanna go check it out now or wait a little bit?"

"You said that you were here because there's a bunch of bad guys planning on doing something mean," Tim spoke up. "We're going to have to get stronger if we're going to be able to help."

Maria blinked at the Fletchling's comment, then smirked and nodded. "Exactly. Then let's go."

The Gym was exactly where the skater had said it was, with a quaint design for the outside of the building that matched the overall feel of the town.

Maria ran her hand over the light brown stone that made up the outer façade of the building. "I like the look of this Gym; it's a lot different from the ones in other regions."

"Kinda looks French, too," Khrista pointed out.

"Yeah, that, too. But Kalos is technically France back home." Maria grinned as they reached the entrance of the Gym. "Doesn't give a clue as to what this Gym is supposed to be, though, but I doubt that it's a Rock-Type one."

Pour's expression soured at that, and he folded his arms across his chest.

"What do you think it is?" Delta spoke up.

"I don't know." Maria's grin widened. "And there's only one way to find out!" She pushed the doors open and stepped inside, followed by Khrista and the other Pokémon.

Inside was a small gallery of photos and an open pit in the center of the room with a thin white rope dangling from the ceiling. And the photos were all of—

"Bug-Types!" Maria exclaimed.

"Indeed!" spoke up a man standing near the entrance. "You two look like recent challengers – you're lucky that Viola is in today! Usually she's out taking photographs of the wild Pokémon that live in the route beyond the town." He frowned. "You two are…older than most challengers."

"I'm not challenging." Khrista shook her head. "Maria is."

"You're not?" Maria looked at Khrista in confusion. "Why aren't you—"

"I already went through as an avatar." Khrista waved Maria off. "I know you didn't play X or Y because you'd already been through the other regions."

"Ava – oh! You're one of the children who was involved in what happened in Sinnoh?" The man stared at Khrista with wide eyes.

"Yeah. Maria would have gotten involved too, but she was busy with something else."

"Unfortunately," Maria admitted, getting a wide-eyed look from the man.

"O-oh! You're continuing your tradition of starting over with each region, then?" The man clapped his hands together.

"Yup." Maria laughed. "So, right down there, then?" She motioned to the hole in the middle of the room.

"Indeed! Go right on ahead." The man nodded towards the white rope and the blatant pitfall. "I'll have to ask that your friend not follow you in, however, if she isn't a challenger – the puzzle isn't hers to solve."

"Course not," Maria agreed.

"I'd still like to watch," Khrista said.

"I'll show you the back entrance. Maria should start her puzzle first, however – and with your Pokémon in their PokeBalls."

Maria nodded as her four Pokémon retreated into their PokeBalls, gave a salute, then grabbed the white rope and slid down its length.

Her feet collided with a wide, thick rope that bowed under her weight before bouncing back; Maria shifted her stance in order to keep herself from flying off.

"Spider web, huh?" Maria looked around and caught sight of three small, wooden platforms dotted around outer edge of the spider web, and then a larger platform on the other side. "Looks like I'm going by Trainers in order to get over there. Sweet." Her eyes scanned the spider web, taking into account the thickness or thinness of some of the strings, then started to move around the spider web, gripping Delta's PokeBall in one hand.

The three Trainers who were waiting for her at every turn had weaker Pokémon that Maria had been expecting. However, they weren't Spinarak like she had been expecting, although there was a Spewpa, which Maria guessed was Vivi's evolved form.

Finally, she stepped up onto the final platform, with a young woman with blond hair standing there already. Khrista was in the back with Evie on her shoulder.

"That determined expression…that glint in your eye that says you're up to the challenge…" The woman's eyes sparked. "It's fantastic! Just fantastic! And it's your first time challenging a Gym in Kalos! Fantastic!"

Maria laughed. "Well, you happen to be the first one I've come across, so I should think so!"

The woman grinned. "My name is Viola. I hope that this battle will be a real snapshot! My lens is always focused on victory, and I won't let a five-time Champion ruin this shot so easily! Go, Surskit!"

The PokeBall exploded open, releasing the familiar water skimmer Pokémon form Hoenn.

"Tim, let's start this off!" Maria threw out the Fletchling's PokeBall. "Peck!"

"Quick Attack!"

The two Pokémon collided, then Tim flew around and collided with the Pokémon again as Surskit sprayed a thin spray of water over the battlefield.

"Water Sport," Maria identified. "Delta's going to have trouble."

"Vivillon, go!" Viola threw out a second PokeBall, releasing a butterfly-like Pokémon with purple-pink wings. "Use Infestation!"

"Peck!"

Vivillon's wings flapped, and some kind of cloud of bugs flew from the Bug-Type's wings and covered Tim as he slammed into the opponent Pokémon. He flew back and retreated, wincing as though something was eating at him.

Maria bit her lower lip for a second. "Quick Attack!"

Tim slammed into Vivillon as the Pokémon seemed to stiffen defensively.

The Fletchling winced again. "Something's digging into me."

"So, Harden, Infestation….Quick Attack again!"

Tim got hit with more bugs in response, causing Maria's eyebrows to come together.

"Think you can keep going, Tim?" Maria asked. "Or do you want to pull back?"

"I can keep going!" Tim flew for another Quick Attack, only to get hit by more bugs and nearly collapsing to the ground.

"Yeah, no." Maria started to grab Delta's PokeBall.

"You can't switch him out when Infestation is in play," Viola called over. "It's one of its affects."

Maria paused at that, then mentally cursed. "Fine! Quick Attack!"

Tim slammed into Vivillon just as the Pokémon suddenly looked better, and he collapsed against the ground.

Viola tossed an empty Potion bottle over one shoulder as Maria's eyes narrowed.

"Delta, go! Ember!"

Delta spat a burst of flame as the Vivilon flew at her, then again as the Pokémon tried to send a crowd of bugs at her, only for the Vivillon to faint.

Viola returned her collapsing Pokémon, an impressed expression appearing on her face. "You and your Pokémon have shown me a whole new depth of field! Fantastic! Just fantastic!"

"We beat her?" Delta asked in confusion and surprise.

"We did." Maria grinned. "I'll have to thank Tim later; he helped wear them down. He fainted, though."

"And he did an excellent job." Viola handed over a badge that looked like the back of a Ladyba. "The Bug Badge. And here – TM83, or Infestation. It does damage and keeps Pokémon from fleeing in battle."

"Which I just experienced." Maria accepted the disk.

The back of the tent pulled back, revealing stairs leading up.

"That'll take you back up to the main floor," Viola added. "Good luck traveling around Kalos!"

"Thanks!" Maria grinned and nodded, then headed back up the stairs towards the photo gallery.

"That was pretty good for a one-shot," Khrista commented as they stepped out of the Gym. "Now what?"

"Now we head out of town and towards Lumiose as soon as possible." Maria pulled out a rectangular device and opened it. "Just gotta…download the map for Kalos and…."

A holographic, 2D version of Pokémon-France appeared in the air in front of them.

"Yup, Lumiose is next." Maria folded up the map and slipped it away into her subspace. "Let's swing by the Center and get moving."

"Man, you're really not planning on hanging around," Khrista commented.

"Well, we gotta clobber Team Flare; so we gotta keep moving." Maria turned and started towards the Pokémon Center.

After a quick healing up and a short stop at the PokeMart in the back to resupply, Maria and Khrista stepped out into the open.

Maria released her team and got down into a crouch in front of them. "Okay, guys, we've got one Badge under our belts now. Tim and Delta helped secure that for us, so good job to the both of you." She grinned and ruffled Tim's feathers and scratched Delta behind the ears. "Now, we're going to have to train for a bit in order to get stronger – I don't know where the next Gym we'll be able to get to is, but I think there might be one in Lumiose. So let's see if we can pick up a new friend or two on the way up to the city."

"You mean we're going now?" Pour blinked in surprise. "But we just got here!"

"I know." Maria nodded. "But I don't want to dawdle too much and let Team Flare get away with anything, so we're going to try to move as quickly as possible in order to beat them before they can pull a Cyrus on us. I don't like rushing journeys like this, but this is pretty important."

"And Kalos is pretty big, so we're going to have a lot of ground to cover." Khrista folded her arms across her chest and looked at Evie. "When we get to the city, do you want to be in your Ball? It's going to be a lot louder there than it is here."

Evie made a humming noise.

"All right. I'll let you know when it might be a good idea to, okay?"

Evie nodded again.

Maria rose up to her full height and put her hands on her hips as Vivi crawled up one of her legs in an attempt to get to her shoulder. She spotted the Scatterbug and moved the little Pokémon up to her shoulder herself. "All right. Let's take on this next route!"

 **Moving fast, it seems, eh, Maria? Heh. It's gonna cut down the number of chapters I have to write for this arc, but it's still going to go over ten chapters.**

 **Next time, we'll be up in Lumiose! See you there!**


	65. Kalos part 3

**I am working on ch 74 right now, so I'm not too far ahead of you guys. Heh heh. Not quite done with the story yet, but certainly almost there!**

 **Shadescribe - Yup yup yup! Maria's going to have an interesting collection of a team in the end, though, let me tell you.**

 **Shadow-Wolf-Hikaru - I am afraid I have not read the manga series for it. :/ I've kept up with it pretty well in the past, but, well...real life, you know? I'll have to see if I can find it and read it on my own later.**

 **Anyway, speaking of reading, we've got a chapter to get to!**

 **Chapter 65 – Kalos part 3**

Maria whistled as she stepped through the gate and onto a city street. "Wow. This looks like it's about as big as Castelia – maybe even bigger!"

"That's the…Unova city, right?" Khrista looked over at Maria with a slightly raised eyebrow. When Evie shivered against her, she held up the Espurr's PokeBall and returned the Pokémon. "It certainly is louder than I expected it to be; the street's crowded! I didn't think that we'd end up seeing _cars_ in the Pokémon world!"

"Ohmygoshohmygoshohmygosh! Dexio, it's them! Just like Prof. Sycamore said!"

"I can see that, Sina, I can see that!"

Maria and Khrista blinked at the sound of the two voices, and they turned in order to see where it was that the voices were coming from. Standing nearby, where the street leading from the gate intersected with the busy street, were a girl with purple hair and a boy with blond hair wearing matching white outfits. The girl was clinging to the boy's arm as they both looked at Maria and Khrista with wide eyes and equally wide grins.

"Hi." Maria walked over, Delta and Pour following after on foot as Tim sat perched on her left shoulder. What looked like a little humanoid figure clinging to an orange flower followed after her, staying close to her right shoulder but behind Maria's back. "I heard you mention Prof. Sycamore?"

The girl squealed and ducked behind the boy. "Ohmygosh."

"Sina, calm down." The boy rolled his eyes. He gave Maria a nod in greeting. "We're his assistants. I'm Dexio."

"Maria, but I'm guessing you already knew that." Maria held out a hand for Dexio to shake, which he accepted. The girl – Sina – quickly reached out and grabbed it as well, shaking it vigorously.

"It's hard not to recognize you or Khrista." Dexio nodded to Khrista, who gave a sheepish smile in response.

Sina gasped. "You caught a Flabebe!"

The little Pokémon behind Maria's back sank down a little, trying to stay out of Sina's line of sight. Maria noticed.

"It's okay, Flora; you can go into your PokeBall if you want." Maria gave a slight smile. "Vivi's probably going to be in hers for a while, since she's evolved."

Flora hesitated at that for a moment, then shook her head. "I want to see what the human world is like."

Maria nodded a little at the little Pokémon's quiet voice. "All right. Just know that option's always open, okay?"

"Okay."

"So you _can_ understand Pokémon." Dexio's eyebrows rose. "That's impressive."

"Any Trainer can, if they work with their Pokémon and bond with their Pokémon deep enough," Maria replied.

"Wh-what do you think of the Fairy-Type?" Sina asked. She ducked behind Dexio again when Maria looked at her with a raised eyebrow.

Maria chuckled at Sina. "I haven't had enough time working with Flora to really have a good hold on it yet, although I'm not surprised that a new Type's been discovered. It's definitely going to make battles much more interesting, considering that some of the match-ups have probably been switched around."

Dexio snorted. "That's putting it mildly. Fairy-Types are weak to Poison and Steel-Types, strong against Dark and Dragon-Types, and resisted by Fire-Types who aren't strong against them."

"Dragons have another weakness?" Maria's eyebrows shot up, and she grinned. "About time. Hunting other Dragons and Ice-Types gets to be really tricky in some places."

"You're not as hurt over it as a lot of people back home are," Khrista commented.

"Why would I be?" Maria laughed. "You haven't had to go through the Dragon's Den and hope that a Dratini will ally with you against Claire! Trainers who play the games have all the time in the world – I definitely didn't."

"Good point." Khrista gained a wry smile.

"So, is there a Gym in Lumiose?" Maria turned and looked at Sina and Dexio. "Because I assume that there is."

"There is." Dexio nodded. He rubbed the back of his head. "Unfortunately, Clemont is having some problems right now, so his Gym isn't open – he tried to do something and ended up blacking out the power for half the city. A lot of people are using auxiliary power in order to keep everything going while Clemont works with the power plants in order to get power back for the rest of the city."

Maria and Khrista winced.

"Oh, geez." Maria rubbed the side of her nose, frowning. "That's some power outage. I hope that nothing's gone wrong since then."

"Well, the hospital wasn't affected, thankfully, and we have two Pokémon Centers that are still running, so Trainers can still heal their Pokémon here," Sina offered. "Professor Sycamore is on this side of the city, too, so his lab is fine."

"Really? That's a relief. I hope Clemont can get this solved soon." Maria paused to consider something. "You know, the prof mentioned that there was a chance he might be able to get me to meet up with a Mobian friend of mine that I haven't seen in a while. Do you think you could show me where his lab is?"

Sina's expression brightened. "Sure! We can lead you by one of the Pokémon Centers on the way so that you can heal up!"

"That would be awesome."

One quick trip to a Pokémon Center later, and Maria, Khrista, Sina, and Dexio (with Maria's Pokémon team, of course) were standing in front of a simple two-story white building squished between two taller, larger buildings.

"Here we are!" Dexio made a rather elaborate gesture to the front door. "Prof. Sycamore is on the third floor, waiting for the other Trainers you met in Aquacorde to reach him."

"We'd better go back to the entrance gate and see if the rest of them have moved past Santalune yet," Sina added. She turned and dashed back the way they had come.

Maria gave Dexio a nod, then started up towards the front door and slipped inside.

The elevator ride up was rickety, considering that the device looked like it had been installed after the building's construction. It did manage to get them up to the third floor, however.

"You got here so quickly!" Sycamore praised as Maria and Khrista stepped out of the elevator. "I wasn't expecting you until tomorrow!"

"I'm afraid I'm a bit of a hurry," Maria responded, rubbing the back of her head.

"Of course, of course." Sycamore laughed. "You do have a group to worry about, correct?"

"Yeah." Maria nodded. "Team Flare."

"Hmm." Sycamore frowned, cocking his head to one side. "I've heard about them, but I haven't seen them around recently. If there is a chance that they are dangerous, however, it would be good to look into them. I'll see if there's anything that I can do to help." His expression brightened. "Ah! Speaking of which – you were looking for a friend of yours, correct?"

"Yeah!" Maria grinned. "You mentioned that there was one of them in the city."

"That I did. I asked her if she could come by, and she should soon. While we're waiting for her, I'd like to tell you about something else." Sycamore motioned for them to follow him over to another part of the room, where he had a computer open sitting on a desk. "It's something that made itself known rather randomly after the Second Attempt, almost as though the timeline itself had _reset."_

"What is it?" Maria frowned.

"Oh, so _that's_ how it's getting into this dimension," Khrista commented.

Sycamore and Maria both looked at Khrista.

"You know about this?" Sycamore asked.

"It plays a pretty big part in the game that we take the League through." Khrista rubbed the back of her head. "He's talking about Mega Evolution, Maria."

"Mega Evo—oh. Oh, really?" Maria looked over at Sycamore, who nodded, a little wide-eyed. "Huh. That's going to be interesting to work with."

"It's very difficult to work with," Sycamore responded, frowning. "Trainers who do manage to succeed in the Tower of Mastery to gain Key Stones have to have great trust in their Pokémon in order to use them, as these bonus evolutions not only are extremely powerful, but they are painful transformations for the chosen few Pokémon who can transform."

Maria's eyebrows furrowed. "Oh dear. And Pokémon are willing to—"

"Under dire circumstances, yes." Sycamore nodded. "There's been some proof that some Pokémon have shifted while using trusted humans or fellow Pokémon partners as anchors to lean on in order to keep them from going mad. Unfortunately, despite the fact that it took place in the past, we don't have very much information on it, as these changes came into effect after the Second Attempt."

"Which basically means that we're in an alternate timeline and a lot of people don't really know what it is that we have access to now," Maria summarized. She folded her arms across her chest and frowned. "We'd better be careful about looking into this."

"I've heard that there might be more information in Camphrier Town, but I haven't been able to go out look for myself. Do you think you might be able to look into it for me?" Sycamore gave Maria a hopeful expression.

Maria nodded. "Yeah; sure. I'm curious about this, too."

"Tres bien! I hope that your search for knowledge is more fruitful than mine!" Sycamore checked his watch. "Ah! And I believe that your friend might be waiting down in my lobby right now. You might want to go down there quickly."

"Sweet!" Maria quickly dashed towards the elevator while Khrista shook her head before she followed after her friend.

As soon as the elevator opened to the first floor, Maria caught sight of a figure that looked like a humanoid animal creature with pink, spiky quills and a red dress with large, red and yellow boots.

Maria's grin widened, and she burst out of the elevator. _"Amy!"_

The pink-furred figure turned at Maria's voice, and her green eyes brightened as a smile spread across her face. "Maria! You're all right!" She ran over and grabbed Maria in a hug as Khrista stepped out of the elevator after her, a confused look on her face.

"You were serious about the Mobians," Khrista said flatly.

Maria laughed in response while Delta sniffed at Amy's boots curiously.

"Tails told me about what happened." Amy pulled back from Maria and looked up, smile fading fast. "Are you doing okay? I know that you can't be changed back, but—"

"I've managed to adapt." Maria's eyebrows came together. "How many of you guys did Tails tell?"

"Pretty much all of us, although it was a bit tricky since we were scattered all over the place." Amy's gaze moved from Maria and to Khrista. "O-oh! You must be one of her other friends!"

"Yeah. I'm Khrista." Khrista held out a hand to shake, only for Amy to grab her in a hug. "U-uh—"

"Thank you for doing what Sonic couldn't," Amy said. She looked up at Khrista and pulled back. "So, what are you guys doing here? Is there something else going on?"

"Yeah; that Team Flare group that you might be hearing about are going to be causing trouble." Maria's expression hardened as she folded her arms across her chest. "So we're going to have to find them before they do anything stupid."

Amy blinked a couple times at that. "Flare…? Sounds like they have something to do with fire. Do you think they might have any connection to a man named Lysandre?"

"Lysandre?" Maria blinked at that while Khrista stiffened. Maria raised an eyebrow at that in response to that. "Yup, looks like he's important. Why do you ask?"

"He lives here in Lumiose – he's a pretty big celebrity, actually." Amy paused, then frowned. "He wanted to make a business deal with Eggman, actually, but he turned him down. Eggman didn't want to talk about it, but Tails said that 'the man's idea of beautiful is skewed'."

"His idea of beautiful…? Hm." Maria frowned and tapped on her chin in thought. "That's…well, that's definitely a clue into his way of thinking. I'll have to see if I can run into him."

"In the game, we run into him right here, actually." Khrista frowned. "Something's changed."

"Considering that Cyrus tried his thing _twice,_ I should think that some things are going to be different." Maria frowned. "It's definitely worrysome, though."

"I'll keep an eye out for him," Amy promised. "I'm in Lumiose because I'm trying to make Contests here more popular, so my team and I are putting on a lot of shows and getting the attention of a lot of people. If we run into Lysandre or hear more about what he's up to, I'll let you know as soon as I can."

"Thanks, Amy." Maria grinned. "And could you make sure to let the others know I'm back, too?"

"Sure! I think Tails is up north somewhere – he'll probably want to meet up with you sometime." Amy grinned brightly. "And when you beat the League, I want to see how strong your team gets."

Maria laughed. "All right then. Let's do it!"

"Great! I'm gonna go call Tails and let him know you're here!" Amy dashed out of the building.

"We'd better get moving too, if you want to get through the League as quickly as possible," Khrista remarked. "Camphrier Town is to the west of here; it doesn't have a Gym, so we probably won't be there for long."

Maria nodded. "Got it. Then let's get moving."

Finding the gate that led to the next available route wasn't at all difficult, and Maria and Khrista quickly left the hustle and bustle of Lumiose City behind them.

As soon as they stepped out of the gate and onto the next route, the two girls were nearly bowled over by a two-legged Pokémon with black, white, and cobalt fur running up to them and circling around them.

The Lucario stopped in front of the two of them and looked between them, red eyes narrow with curiosity _. "You two…."_

"Lucario! Wait up!" A girl wearing a white helmet with her hair sticking out behind it in pigtails skated up, followed behind by another Lucario. "You shouldn't run off like that, Lucario."

The Lucario turned and gave a slight bow in response to the girl. _"My apologies, Trainer Korrina. These auras were too interesting to ignore."_

"Their Auras?" Korrina – for that seemed to be the girl's name – looked Maria and Khrista over. "Hm. I haven't seen you two around before."

"We're from out of the country," Maria said, her mouth quirking up a bit in a smile. "I'm Maria. This is my friend, Khrista. She's traveling with me while I take on the League."

"Mar – oh! I've heard about you!" Korrina's eyes widened. "You're the Trainer who was a Pokémon! You can make friends with them so fast some Lucario evolve before they even get to level 10!"

Maria gave a nervous laugh at that and rubbed the back of her neck. "I don't know if _that_ rumor's true, but I have had a number of Lucario evolve earlier than most would expect over the course of my travels. So you're a Lucario Trainer?"

"I'm a Fighting-Type Trainer," Korrina corrected. "Gym Leader, actually, of Shalour City. You'll probably end up going there soon." She grinned. "And I look forward to the challenge!"

Maria laughed. "I should think so! Fighting-Type Gyms actually have been known to give me a little more trouble than the other ones in the past, so I'm looking forward to seeing how yours holds up!"

"Excellent!" Korrina's grin widened. "That just means that we have to train even more! Lucario, come on – we can't let Maria have a look at our secret training just yet!"

"Right!" the two Pokémon responded in unison. The three then ran back down the path and ahead of Maria and Khrista before disappearing from sight.

Maria and Khrista exchanged looks at that.

"Does she do that in the game?" Maria asked.

"Yeah. Although, it was more focused on the fact that one of the Lucario thinks you might be strong enough to take it on as a Pokémon." Khrista frowned a little.

"Well, I'm already friends with a good four; I wouldn't be against taking another one on." Maria shrugged. "I'll leave it up to him, though; it's not up to me what he does." She started down the path. "Come on! We've got to get to Camphrier Town, right? Better not keep that info on Mega Evolution waiting."

 **Heh. Maria's certainly moving fast. And it seems that some things are indeed different this time around - you'll notice that Maria didn't get a Kanto Starter from Sycamore, for example.**

 **How much else will change in the future? You'll have to wait and see, I suppose!**


	66. Kalos part 4

**School and Real Life have really slowed down my posting and writing speed. Bleh.**

 **Shadescribe - Actually, Flabebe is a pure Fairy-Type that knows some Grass-Type moves, so you're half-right. But yeah, that's definitely gonna help Maria's team even out Type-wise. As for the Mobians, well...Khrista may have been in the Pokemon world before, but she hadn't known that they were around. So this is her first time meeting a Mobian in the Pokemon Realm. :)**

 **Speaking of Pokemon, we'd better get right on this next chapter!**

 **Chapter 66 – Kalos part 4**

"AND STAY OUT!"

The men and women in bright red suits scrambled out of the cave as fast as their legs could carry them. A large, round rabbit waddled out after them, shaking a fist angrily.

The Diggersby huffed and folded his arms across his chest as Maria and Khrista stepped out of the opening in the wall after him. "Monstrous Trainers, thinkin' they can go aroun' diggin' where they're not supposed ta be."

Maria huffed and folded her arms across her chest. "No kidding. So that's Team Flare…must've run into the lowest of the grunts." She looked over at the Diggersby. "Thanks for getting my attention about this, Bugs."

"No problem." The Pokémon saluted with one of his large, rabbit-like ears. "These guys have been causing trouble all over the place, so I figured that you'd want to come in and kick them out before they did anything even more stupid."

Maria nodded in response. "I appreciate it. They seemed to be pretty hung-up on getting money from selling revived Fossil Pokémon. I'm…not quite sure how they would be connected to Mega Evolution, though…." She frowned at the rock that she had gotten from the scientist inside the cave.

"Aerodactyl has a Mega Evolution," Khrista commented casually, causing Maria to look at her sharply.

"…you're serious."

"Yup." Khrista grinned at Maria's wide-eyed expression. "You won't be able to get one right now, though, and you still need a Key Stone from the Tower of Mastery in Shalour City. So if you want to get up there, we'd better get moving."

"Knowing that Aerodactyl has a Mega Evolution is definitely better than what we were told at that palace near Camphrier." A wide grin crossed Maria's face. "It also suggests that they've managed to place themselves into this world's timeline as far back as the prehistoric ages! I'll have to find a way to let Aero know later."

"I'll pass the message along." Bugs waved Maria and Khrista back towards the rocky part of the route that led to the cave. "You two get movin'. Cyllage City's up the coast a bit; second Gym's up there."

Maria nodded. "Thanks. I'll make a stop by the lab and get this Jaw Fossil revived; it might be useful at the next Gym." The Fossil disappeared into her subspace, and her hoverboard replaced its place in her hand. She jumped onto it as Khrista started hovering in mid-air. "Let's head back!"

Shooting across the rocky terrain, a number of lizard-like Pokémon, Sandile, and Hippopotas ducking and dodging out of the way before Maria and Khrista passed over them.

"Day two and we've run into Team Flare already!" Maria called as they reached the other end of the route. "Definitely earlier than Team Rocket, but later than Team Magma."

"You met Magma in Petalburg Woods?" Khrista asked as they landed on the other side of the route.

"Yup. And Aqua was in Slateport." Maria walked through the gate and into Ambrette Town. "That was a fun region, taking on two teams at once. I'd kind of like to take on that challenge again. Now to get that fossil revived…."

A few minutes later, Maria and Khrista stepped out of the lab in-town, frowning at the PokeBall in Maria's grip as the rest of her team stepped out with them.

"That was a prehistoric Pokémon?" Delta grabbed onto Maria's arm and stood up on her tiptoes in order to get a better look at the PokeBall. Having managed to evolve early that morning, she had been doing well in adjusting to walking on two feet. "Doesn't seem as though he's going to be very nice."

"Well, we're going to have to give Grimlock a chance to prove himself," Maria replied. "He probably needs to release a lot of energy. Hopefully there are Trainers between here and Cyllage that are going to be able to help with that. He's been pulled out of his time, so it's going to take him some time to adjust." She clipped the PokeBall to the belt she was wearing over her armor, still hidden to most eyes under the hologram of the clothes she normally wore. "So let's get going!"

 **Maria's POV**

Grimlock the Tyrunt did not like the Tentacool that the fishermen had on the way up to the next city. The only offensive move he had was Bite, so everything went into chomping the jellyfish Pokémon into fainting, which was definitely good for him.

The city itself was full of bikers, which would have been a good sign for me if I was human – I _probably_ could have picked up my Bike from here, like I usually do at some point in my travels across the region. Unfortunately, my weight would be a bit too much for a normal bike to handle.

I have my hoverboard. I'll be good.

"The Gym's up there." Khrista pointed up to the side of the cliff that a road was sloping upward.

"Up there…." I frowned. "That's either a Flying-Type or a Rock-Type."

"Then that means I'm up?" Pour asked. The Panpour jumped from one foot to another, hopeful.

"Either you or we have to put Grimlock first and hope he learns a Rock-Type attack." I tapped my chin thoughtfully. "Only one way to find out."

After a little climbing, we reached a hole carved into the side of the cliff that happened to have pillars with the League symbol mounted on either side.

I took a look at the words carved on the pillar. "Gym Leader's Grant – well, that's a dead giveaway."

"It is?" Delta cocked her head to one side.

"Yup. This is a Rock-Type Gym. Pour, we're going to be relying a lot on you, but Flora's going to be pretty helpful, too."

"I-I am?" The Floette-who-was-formerly-a Flabebe looked at me with something of a wide-eyed expression.

"Well, yeah; you do have Grass-Type moves; that's going to be useful. Especially if they have something like a Relicanth in there." I cracked my knuckles. "We'd better not give them any hint as to what my team is; you guys better get in your Balls so we can catch as many of those Trainers by surprise."

The Pokémon nodded in unison, then returned to their PokeBalls before we stepped inside.

Out of all the things I _had_ been expecting, I had _not_ been expecting a rock climbing obstacle course.

"Hello down there!"

I looked up at the sound of the youthful young man's voice, and I caught sight of a dark-skinned young man with his hair done up and stones glittering on top of his head.

"Do I have two challengers today?" he called down.

"Just me!" I called back. "Khrista went through it already as one of the avatar teams, I guess."

"Oh? Ha! You must be Maria, then! You're a few years later than we were expecting you to be!" I could see his glittering grin even from the distance between us. "I'm Grant! I hope you're ready for my Gym Challenge!"

I gave him a thumbs-up back, then attacked the wall and started up.

The Trainers had Pokémon that I was expecting, and from all over the different regions that I had seen from across my travels. I reached Grant at the top of his tower in record time.

"I've been waiting in eager anticipation for your presence to grace my Gym," Grant said with a grin. "I have a feeling that our battle will turn out to be worth the wait! Amaura, go!"

The PokeBall exploded, releasing a little blue, long-necked Pokémon with big eyes that made it extremely adorable.

"Pour, let's do this! Scald!" I threw Pour's PokeBall, releasing the Water-Type just before he spat a stream of hot water at Amaura.

"Thunder Wave, then Take Down!" Grant countered, pointing at Pour rather dramatically.

Amaura shook his head, sparks flying off the large fins that were probably his eyebrows. The sparks hit Pour as what I guessed was the _other_ option I had as a Fossil Pokémon choice.

Pour shook himself out as Amaura pulled back, wincing, and he tried to fire off a Scald but winced at the sparks.

I quickly dug up a Paralyze Heal that I'd picked up and sprayed him in the back with it, causing the sparks to fade. "Try again!"

"Aurora Beam!" Grant called.

Pour slammed his fists together and spat out another Scald as a beam of colorful energy came flying off Amaura at the same time.

The two attacks both hit their mark; Pour managed to survive the hit, but the Amaura did not.

Grant whistled as he returned his Pokémon. "You are definitely the mountain that I thought you were." He grinned. "But don't think that I'm done yet! Tyrunt, go!"

"We got this." I grinned widely and clenched my left fist eagerly, Pour mimicking my movement before shooting off another Scald.

Tyrunt responded by stomping the ground and summoning a Rock Tomb, trapping Pour under them and knocking him out.

My eyes narrowed. "Okay then. Flora, go!" I released the Floette from her PokeBall.

Tyrunt lunged forward for a bite, only to get blasted back by pink-colored wind that…actually seemed to hurt it more than I had been expecting.

I vaguely remembered that my PokeDex had labeled Tyrunt as part _Dragon,_ which only made me grin.

"Hit him again!" I directed.

Flora did so, and Tyrunt took the full brunt of the blast before spinning around on one foot and collapsing, knocked out.

Grant stared for a moment, then laughed as he returned Tyrunt. "You have proven to be a wall that I am unable to surmount! I guess that you aren't an obstacle I can overcome just yet. Here's the Cliff Badge and TM39 – Rock Tomb."

"Thanks!" I accepted the badge and the TM before stowing them away.

"The next Gym is in Shalour City," Grant added. "You'll have to pass through Geosenge in order to reach it."

"Sweet." I gave him a thumbs-up. "Thanks for letting me know!"

Then, because I didn't feel like climbing down, I _backflipped_ off instead and landed on my hoverboard on the way down, gliding down to the ground without getting any damage or doing any damage to the ground.

"Whoo!" Grant was leaning over the edge of his platform when I landed and looked up. "You're as extreme as your battle style!"

I laughed back up at him. "In my line of work, it's starting to become a bit of a given!"

"You get too reckless," Khrista responded from where she stood by the entrance. I shot her a glare, and she laughed in response. "Well, it's true! Do I need to remind you about how eager you were to jump into the front lines last summer?"

"I wanted to help, is that so bad?" I retorted. "Speaking of which, we'd better get moving to Shalour. We might run into some more Flare grunts along the way."

Khrista grinned and slammed a fist into an open palm. "I hope so. Those grunts back in the Glittering Cave weren't at all powerful."

I laughed in reply. "I know, right? Let's swing by the Pokémon Center and head out to the next town."

We swung by the Pokémon Center and made sure to restock on supplies before we made our way to the exit at the north end of town. We were about to step across the bridge when I heard someone call my name from behind me.

"Maria! I didn't think that you could get out here so fast!"

I turned upon hearing the voice and blinked in surprise. "Shauna?"

The girl with the pigtails came to a stop a short distance behind me. "Yup!" She bent over on her knees to get a breather, then looked up at me and grinned. "I didn't think you could move so fast between Gyms! Calem and Serena are still training around Lumiose – they only just got there this morning! I can't believe you managed to get here in two days!"

"Well, after traveling through five other regions, it gets to be pretty easy to travel fast," I admitted, rubbing the back of my head.

"Have you battled the Gym here yet? Or are you going to train first?" Shauna looked at me with a curious expression.

"I…I just beat Grant, actually." I laughed as Shauna's jaw dropped.

"It's only midmorning!" she practically shrieked. "Wow, Maria! You must be really good at training Pokémon if you're able to move this fast!"

"It helps that my team's so well-rounded at this point." I grinned. "We've got a full team too, and a few more Pokémon that I know I can call on if I need to switch things up. I might pick up more Pokémon, too, just to keep things interesting, but I'm content with my team as it is for now."

"Good!" Shauna bobbed her head, eyes bright. "Serena and Calem really want to fight you, too, next time they meet up with you. I think they're the only ones who are really serious about going against you!"

"You mean you don't want to spar?" I frowned a little at that.

Shauna shook her head. "No, not really. I just want to be able to travel around the region with my Eevee and get to know as many Pokémon and people that live in Kalos as possible! That's what I look forward to the most about a Pokémon journey – the people that I can meet and the lives I can touch."

Shauna's statement actually reminded me of something that I'd read once on a wall in some ruins. I inclined my head a little, thoughtful. "When every life meets another life, something will be born."

"Huh?" Shauna blinked in confusion. "What does that mean?"

"It's something that I read on the wall of the deepest part of the Solaceon Ruins in Sinnoh," I explained. "It's another way of representing how friendship comes to form, I think. You might be able to form a lot of special connections that way."

Shauna's eyes brightened. "You think so?"

"Maria's the leader of her own _Guild_ of Pokémon that are all over the world and getting more numbers by the day," Khrista said flatly. "She knows what she's talking about; trust me."

Shauna looked between the two of us with wide eyes before jumping up and down happily, letting out a loud squeal as she did. "That is so awesome! I hope I have as many friends as you do someday!"

"I'd say you're well on your way," I replied with a grin. "Traveling around and making connections and building up your own team will do wonders, believe me. I'm sure you'll be able to make friends with people that most wouldn't consider making friends with."

Shauna squealed with excitement. "All right, that settles it! I'm going to talk to everybody from Vaniville to the Pokémon League and make friends with everybody in Kalos! Just you watch, Maria! I'm gonna conquer my own challenge!" With that, she turned and ran back into town, waving at a cyclist who happened to be nearby.

I chuckled. "It won't be hard not to do that. She's a very friendly person."

"That's putting it mildly," Khrista responded. "So, we're going?"

"We're going." I nodded, then stepped across the bridge and onto the next route, my team popping out of their PokeBalls as we reached the other side of the bridge.

I took in a breath of fresh, flower-scented air and grinned.

Day two in Kalos and I'd already taken out two Gyms. At the rate that I was going, I was definitely going to be done before the end of the month.

 **A bit of a short but high-action chapter as we take care of _another_ Gym.**

 **Next chapter's gonna be...a bit _interesting._ Mostly because we have another OC jumping in for a bit - and this one's from another writer here on ! SabaraOne's OC Composite will be joining Maria in traveling around Kalos!**

 **As SabaraOne is still in the midst of writing what takes place before these events, I'm gonna hold of on posting anything for a while. It's going to help me finish off what homework I have right now if I don't have to worry about posting, anyway, so I'll see you guys later!**


	67. Kalos part 5

**Hi, guys! Looks like you won't have to wait for too long - SabaraOne finished his last arc, so I can jump in with starting to post the rest of Maria's Kalos arc!**

 **Shadescribe - It's okay; I sometimes forget that some Pokemon are one Type or another. It happens to everybody.**

 **SabaraOne - It is indeed going to be fun. Heh heh. (sorry about the pronoun mix-up; I'll keep better tabs on that)**

 **Crossover Begin! :D**

 **Chapter 67 – Kalos part 5: Composite**

 **Maria's POV**

The route leading up to Geosenge quickly changed from flowers with Pokémon hiding in them to a rather solemn-felt collection of stones that decreased in size the further we went along the route and the closer we got to the town. Yanma, Siglyph, and Eevee wandered among the stones, stepping lightly and making hardly a sound, which made the entire area have a sort of…unnerving quality to it.

I cleared my throat loudly enough to get the attention of a passing Sigilyph. "Excuse me, what's the history of this place?"

The strange, Psychic/Flying Pokémon turned at my voice. It _seemed_ startled, but it's pretty hard to tell when the Pokémon's facial features were as unmoving as a Claydol's. _"This place, young human, is the graveyard of those who have fallen in order to end the war that took place here three thousand years ago. The stones are all that remain of the Pokémon who were used."_

I paused at that. Khrista noticed the somewhat wide-eyed expression I had on my face, and her mouth pressed into a straight line. "Do you mean their gravestones?"

 _"I mean the Pokémon themselves."_

 _That_ was something I was _not_ expecting; my holographic disguise flickered for a moment, showing my armor underneath. _"What?!_ These stones are – " I quickly stepped away from one of the tall, thin upright boulders that was near me. "How could this have happened? You mentioned a war?"

 _"Indeed, Wandering Guildmaster. Three thousand years ago, Kalos was not one country, but many. A single man – the king of one part of the region, some say – lost his Pokémon to the carnage. In response, he created a machine that not only brought his Pokémon back to life, but was also used as a weapon to end the war, killing many humans and Pokémon alike in the process. It is said that he himself has been cursed with immortality, and as a result is forced to wander the region alone, as his Pokémon left him upon seeing the carnage that had been wrought."_ The Siglyph drifted away and disappeared behind one of the stones.

"A weapon that destroyed lives and brought a Pokémon back to life…." My brow furrowed. "That's got to be important to what Team Flare might be planning. It's connected to the legends about the Legendary Pokémon that live here, at least."

"You know about them?" Khrista blinked in surprise.

"Yes, I know about Xerneas and Yveltal, the Legendaries that represent life and death. We had a couple Pokémon join the Guild from across the sea that wouldn't stop talking about them and how much they wanted to meet them." I paused to consider that. "I wonder if they ever did, come to think of it."

"Well, they sleep for a thousand years and wake up, only to cause either massive amounts of death or resurrection depending on the Pokémon," Khrista responded. "If they _did_ meet Yveltal, they would more than likely be –"

"I _really_ doubt that they would be dead," I replied flatly. I shook my head. "Let's…let's keep moving. I don't want to be in this graveyard longer than I already have to be."

Delta shivered against me, gripping my left arm in both paws. "I don't like the feel of this place…."

Flora drifted closer to me and away from Grimlock, who had been ducking away from the Floette and keeping her from landing. "This place may be cursed. Do not wander too close to the stones."

"I'll agree to that." I nodded to Flora, then started moving forward. The rest of the team stayed close behind, probably feeling the same way about this place that I did.

The Trainers who were hidden between the stones didn't really seem to feel all that much of an atmosphere about the place; there were a large number of tourists who were clearly _not_ from Kalos and treated the place like it was a prominent landmark and less like the grave that it was. The psychics who were in the area acknowledged the energy that around, at any rate, which I was glad for.

I nearly bolted for the town on the other side of the graveyard anyway, but something moved in my path before I could take another step.

"You are the Wandering Guildmaster?"

I blinked in surprise at the question and looked at the Pokémon that had spoken: a brown and blue creature with glowing sigils carved into its surface. A Golett.

"…I am," I replied carefully.

"I am Gol." The Golett motioned to himself – well, itself, technically; golem Pokémon didn't exactly have genders. But this one sounded like a him, and I never really liked calling Pokémon "it." "There are humans in red wandering in this place. I would like to prevent them from causing harm to this place, but I am not strong enough for that. I would like to join your team."

I inclined my head at that, eyebrows rising. "Team Flare is here?"

Gol nodded. "I wish to help."

I blinked at that, then smiled a little. "I don't see why not." I held out a Great Ball to the Pokémon.

As Gol tapped against the Great Ball and was sucked inside before disappearing into my PC system, Khrista asked, "Don't you already _have_ a Golurk?"

"I don't have any problems when it comes to having multiple Pokémon," I replied, looking over at her.

"You!"

I turned my head sharply at the screeching tone of voice, and I caught sight of a guy with red hair in a red suit.

"I remember you! You're the one that foiled out Fossil-finding plans!" The Team Flare grunt pointed at the two of us accusingly. "And now you're here, standing around these stones. Do you have any idea what they even area?"

"A graveyard," I replied bluntly.

"Of course you—" The grunt spluttered to a halt. "Wh-what?"

"We're standing in a _graveyard,"_ I repeated, stepping towards him. "And I want to know what you want to do with it."

The grunt backed up a couple steps at that, then steeled himself. "What does it matter? I've got a chance to get some revenge on you…with style! Go, Houndour!"

"Pour, go!"

Houndour howled as soon as Pour came out, forcing him to retreat and bringing Vivi out.

"Oh no you don't!" I quickly switched them back, causing Pour to take the Bite that was intended for the snowfall wing-patterned Vivillon.

"Ow!" Pour shook the Houndour off.

"Scald!" I ordered.

Pour spat the scalding hot water at the Houndour, causing him to faint instantly.

The Flare grunt started to reach for the next PokeBall. "Golbat!"

I quickly switched again. "Vivi, Psybeam!"

The psychic blast hit the Golbat and instantly its eyes went swirly. Unfortunately, its Confused state didn't mean that it was going to hit itself, and it slammed into Vivi with a Wing Attack that took her out.

"Delta!" I quickly switched.

"Astonish!"

"Psybeam!"

Golbat's surprise attack hit, but Delta's attack hit harder. The Braixen took him out with one more hit.

As Golbat returned to his PokeBall, the Flare grunt collapsed onto his knees. "H-how could I lose again to a little punk like you? What are you, some kind of Trainer prodigy or something?"

"I'm not a prodigy," I replied. "I'm a little tougher than that."

"What are you—"

 _Beep!_

The Flare grunt quickly turned around, raising an arm up to what I guessed was face height. "I see…roger that!" He grinned back at me. "Gotta love the Holo Caster. Whoever thought this thing up must have been one truly stylish individual, too! And on that note, it's time for me to scram…with style!" And he turned and ran off.

"H-hey!" I promptly took off after him at a dead run, my team and Khrista following after me.

As the stones decreased in height, we ran into more grunts armed with Electrike and Gulpin. My team handled them well enough, and Khrista's Espurr Evie gained more experience from the fights that she got into, as well. By the time we got to the collection of wooden cabins on the other side of the graveyard, the Team Flare grunts were long gone.

"Scrap!" I slammed a fist into one of my thighs; gritting my teeth in anger and looking around in order to see if there was anyone dressed in red hiding behind one of the nearby cabins. "If we ran into them out in the open like this…there has to be a secret base for them somewhere."

"Yeah, but you're definitely not going to be able to go after them until later," Khrista pointed out. "Like, seventh Gym Badge at least."

"Don't you think I know that?" I snarled in reply. "Oooo, if my dex wasn't Region-locked I'd have called in Dialga and Palkia by now to teach those idiots a lesson."

"Yeah, I'm sure you'd—" Khrista stopped short abruptly and turned her head towards one of the cabins on the other side of the circular-shaped town.

I looked at her, then started to follow her gaze across the three short stones that rose up from the center. "What is it?"

"It…I'm not sure." Khrista started across the town towards the cabin across the square from us; I quickly followed after her, the rest of the team trailing behind. "It almost feels like there's some kind of weird presence over here behind one of the houses."

"A presence?" I frowned. "Not human or Pokémon, I'm guessing."

"I'm not sure _what_ it is, but it definitely doesn't feel normal."

My frown deepened at that, and small, almost indiscernible sparks of fire sparked off the tips of my fingers as we approached the wood cabin and moved around to the back of it.

As soon as we got around behind the cabin, we stopped short.

I couldn't help but stare. "Khrista? That wasn't in X and Y, was it?"

Khrista shook her head, not taking her gaze off the figure who was standing in front of us. "I almost want to say it's Essentia, but that was post-game and the suit _definitely_ didn't have hedgehog spikes or a fox tail."

The figure who was crouching behind the cabin looked like a Mobian female of some kind, but she was wearing what looked like a black jumpsuit suit with blue glowing lines running over it in places – kind of like those jumpsuits that everybody wears in _Tron_. She was looking down at a book of some kind and writing in it with a feather quill, which she was dipping into an ink bottle sitting in a holder on her belt.

I definitely hadn't seen a figure like this before. I started moving towards her, Khrista and my team backing me up as I did.

"Put it out," the figure said in a female voice with a British accent. "We don't let fire near our books."

I paused. _We?_ The sparks stopped flying from my fingers as I blinked in surprise. I didn't see anyone else standing nearby.

"Mom? Are these people bothering you?" asked a boy-ish voice. A green floating brain-like creature that was slightly larger than a human head drifted around the corner, causing Khrista and I to move into defensive stances.

" _Oy'an,_ what have we told you about calling us 'Mom'?" the figure responded. "And to answer your question, no, put your mandibles away."

There was that weird pronoun usage again. Was there more than one person in that body or…?

"Sorry, _Bu'ir,_ " the floating creature answered sheepishly. The mandibles under it, two on the outside about an inch long and an inner pair about half an inch long, didn't retract, but they did slump slightly.

I swallowed at the sight of the monster. "Khrista, do you-"

"Metroid," Khrista responded, keeping her voice low. "I've seen Joshua play the game; that thing's weak to ice."

I gave a slight hum in response, nodding a little. I remembered hearing about the game, but I hadn't had a chance to really get into it. "Gotcha."

"Sorry, be with you in a sec," the figure said, putting a final flourish on her writing before shutting the ink well and using a blotter next to it on her belt. The quill was placed next to the ink pot and the book went to her right side. She turned towards us, revealing a fox-like face with blue fur and a purple muzzle, with a transparent visor covering her face. She glanced between us before focusing on each of us individually, mostly on Khrista and me rather than my team behind me.

"Who are you?" She looked between the two of us again, "Actually, what are you?"

"What do you mean?" I asked, frowning. I shifted my stance a little, ready to activate the Buster in my right hand at a moment's notice. Khrista fingered the PokeBall at her waist, where Evie was still hiding, ready to bring her out if need be.

"Well, visually, you both _look_ human, but you," she nodded at Khrista, "seem to be some sort of human hybrid or symbiont, we can't quite tell which, and _you_ ," she turned to me, "don't seem to be wetware at all."

 _"Wetware?"_ I frowned. "Why would you think I'm some computer program?" The hologram of my normal human clothes flickered, revealing red, orange, and gray armor for a moment before the hologram solidified again. I noticed the continued plural pronouns and figured that I'd just go along with it for now.

"Sorry, we keep forgetting that most wetwares don't like being referred to as programs. Perhaps we should introduce ourselves. We are Composite and this is _Oy'an,_ but you can call him 'Hunter,' Same name, different language."

" _Bu'ir_ sees all sentient entities as programs of some sort," Hunter piped up cheerfully. Something about him seemed to say he was glad to explain something. "'Wetware' is just their term for biologicals. They probably think you're some sort of hardware program, or possibly a cyborg." His outer mandibles spread in what was probably supposed to be a smile. "They also forget that most programs can't access the internet at will from anywhere in the multiverse, so they probably assume you've already discovered on your own that my name is Mandalorian, literally translating as 'The one who does the hunting,' but Hunter is easier to remember."

"You can talk?" Khrista asked, remaining in a defensive stance. "I didn't know Metroids can talk."

"Most of us can't. _Bu'ir,_ Parent, can be mother or father, gave me cybernetic enhancements that allow me to see, hear, smell, speak, and get energy from electricity. It's not as efficient as life energy and telepathy, but it's less scary for others." Hunter tilts slightly in curiosity, "So, who are you?"

Khrista and I exchanged looks at the question from the Metroid, raising eyebrows at each other.

Delta pushed past the two of us. "I'm Delta. This is my Trainer, the Wandering Guildmaster Maria, and Khrista, her friend."

"Delta!" I looked down at the Braixen in surprise and worry.

The figure thought for a moment before responding, "Sorry, didn't catch much of that. You must speak a language with no link to anything else we've heard."

"-And it just sounded like a dog to me, but if _Bu'ir_ says it's a language, I'm willing to leave my options open." Hunter added.

Khrista and I exchanged looks at that.

Delta glared up at Hunter, paws on her hips. "A dog? Me? How dare you!"

I sighed and ran a hand through my hair. "Well, you don't _seem_ dangerous." I looked over at Khrista for a moment, then back at the Mobian figure. "I'm Maria. This is Khrista, my friend, and this is Delta, one of the Pokémon that I've befriended here." I motioned to the rest of the creatures who were standing behind me - an orange, black, and white bird, a blue monkey, a butterfly with a snowfall pattern on her wings, what looked like a miniature T-Rex carved from rock, and a little figure holding an orange flower like an umbrella. "These are Tim the Fletchinder, Pour the Panpour, Vivi the Vivillon, Grimlock the Tyrunt, and Flora the Floette."

Khrista rolled Evie's PokeBall around in one hand, as though considering releasing the Espurr out into the open. She shook her head a moment later and replaced the PokeBall back on her belt. "So, who are you? What are you doing on Neo-Mobius?"

" _Neo_ -Mobius?" the figure repeated. "We'll admit, we don't know as much as we should about our source world, but we're vaguely aware of Pokémon, but we're pretty sure the two worlds aren't supposed to be one…? To answer your other question, we are a hybrid of a cybernetically-enhanced Mobian fox and a sentient artificial intelligence."

"Mobian and AI…?" My brow furrowed. That didn't sound like it should have been possible, but the Tron-like appearance of the other's armor definitely hinted that there was more to this Mobian than met the eye - that, and the pronoun usage. I blinked a couple times at the reference to the other's "source world" and being aware of Pokémon, and my brow furrowed even more so.

"You still haven't given us a name." Khrista frowned.

"Sorry, the name's Composite. Either that or Ada depending on our form."

Meanwhile, Hunter had started to drift down and towards the Pokémon. Noting this, Composite stated firmly, "Back!" Hunter skittered back to his place behind Composite's shoulder. "Sorry, he's still young and curious."

"Form?" Khrista prompted.

"Right," Composite hopped up into the air about a foot and just _hovered_ there. A vortex of green energy surrounded them, and when it dispelled, Composite had transformed into a human female with blue eyes and slightly longer than shoulder length blonde hair, wearing blue jeans and a black T-shirt that read, "This shirt is classified as a munition and may not be exported from the United States, or shown to a foreign national." Below that was something that looked like computer code.

They drifted down to the ground, the only thing that hadn't changed being their writing implements still at their belt.

"Don't mind the shirt," they commented. "That sorted itself out around 2000 or so in our home dimension. We'll be happy to explain the history at a later date."

"...whoa." I blinked a couple times at the sight of the transformation, my eyebrows shooting up.

Khrista appeared surprised as well for a moment, then shook her head and snorted. "Joshua'd get a kick out of it. I bet he knows whether or not that's something to be worried about back home."

"I doubt it's anything _to_ worry about," I responded. I looked Composite up and down, cocking my head to one side. "So, what are you doing here? You definitely look like you don't belong in this dimension, or like you're anything that those Team Flare goons I've been chasing could put together."

"Doubt you need to worry about something like us at home, wherever that is. As far as we know, the company that made us only exists in one dimension. And they didn't develop the technology that allows our Mobian and AI components to fuse. In fact, we're here to meet the person who did. Our sister, Camanion. The company Fcon designed us for world domination. We introduced their containment jar to a shotgun, deleted half of their security force and escaped to another dimension using Chaos Control." Composite crossed their arms over their chest, glowed with a soft white light for a moment, and reverted to the armored form. "As for Team Flare..."

They glanced off into the distance for a moment. I almost thought I could see something other than the outside world reflected in Composite's pupils, "Oh, here it is… Tried to take over this region… awaken these Legendaries - what's a Legendary…? Right, should have guessed…" Their eyes refocused after a moment. "Right. First rate scum. Last time we read about a group like them, they ended up in the rainforest with nothing but the clothes on their backs."

My eyebrows shot up as Composite listed off the events that brought her into existence, on top of the fact that she was aware of Team Flare. "You know…? I'm guessing you didn't play the games like Khrista did, then."

"You had the option to, too," Khrista pointed out. "And you still figured out what they're going to be up to faster than most people."

"Well, 'most people' can't talk to the Sigilyph that live down the route with the graveyard that we came up." I motioned back to the southern entrance that led into the small town. I paused. "Speaking of which, we'd better get moving and keep knocking Team Flare out of Kalos before they actually get around to doing something stupid; I don't want to stick around in places for too long if it means they get more time."

"The only other way out of town is to the east," Tim chirped.

"Thanks, Tim." I nodded to the Fletchinder, then looked over at Composite. "If you know about what's going on here already, then you could give us a hand taking Team Flare out if you wanted to. I bet we could find a way to get into contact with Camanion when we circle back to Lumiose or happen to find any of the other Mobians who are around, too."

"Maria, are you sure this is a good idea?" Khrista frowned. "We haven't seen anything like Composite before, it might not be-"

"If they were here to do anything that could hurt us, I would have gotten a vision by now," I replied, frowning at Khrista. "And besides, my Guildmaster instincts would have acted up if they were really here to cause ill will. We should be all right."

"Actually, we didn't know that information, we were reading a wiki in real time. Being able to connect to the internet in another dimension is a useful ability. But if you want us to come along," Composite floated up about an inch on a green-white cushion of energy, which caused me to blink a couple times in surprise. "We'd be happy to oblige. Besides, we just got here, so we were going to explore a bit anyway. We were just jotting down a quick Link in case we needed to get back to this dimension in a hurry. It's faster than getting coordinates."

"Link?" I frowned a little at that. "You mean, what you were doing in that book just now, right? How is that faster than keeping it all in your head?"

"In fact, yes. We have to swap some very long streams of numbers in and out of our execution memory. It's also easier to bring people along using a Linking Book." They grabbed the book from their belt and opened it to a page before turning it around. The left page had a complex symbol written on it, and the right side had what looked like a normal illustration but _felt_ like something more. "You just put your hand on the panel and away you go. The only downsides are that you have to be in the location you want to Link to when you write the symbol, and it only works between dimensions, you can't Link from one part of a dimension to another. Most Books don't follow their users, but ours does. Took us a while to set that up. A few months in fact."

My eyebrows shot up at the sight of the book, and I looked between it and Composite for a moment as the gears turned in my head. _A way to travel across dimensions? That can only mean—_

"Holy scrap! You're a World Jumper!" The wide grin that crossed my face a moment later made Khrista look at me with a startled expression.

"World Jumper… Has a nice ring to it," Composite thought for a moment before adding, "We like TSR Jumper. Time/Space/Reality. Plus there's an old technical joke in there, but you'd have to either be an old-timer or be a retro nerd like Camanion to get it."

Khrista raised an eyebrow at that as my eyes sparked. "Huh."

"I didn't think I'd get to cross paths with someone else who travels across dimensions!" I laughed. "This is so awesome! I've got so many questions."

"Bug them about them later; we've got that next town to get to, remember?" Khrista nudged me in the side. "Shalour City? With the Fighting-Type Gym and the Mega Evolution stuff?"

My excited grin faded a little at that. "Oh yeah. Right." The grin came back, but I was less excited now, more determined. "You wanted to have a look around, Composite? We've only just started traveling around Kalos, so you'll see a lot of the region if you travel around with us." The determination softened into a hopeful sort of expression. "O-only if you feel like coming along, that is."

Composite and Hunter exchanged looks. After a moment, Composite shrugged and Hunter's mandibles bobbed in a similar movement. "Sure, why not. Camanion probably doesn't even know we're in-dimension yet. The communication equipment we use apparently doesn't work in-dimension either, even though it's based on the same D'ni technology as the Books."

I cocked my head to one side at the word. It sounded like "Dunny," but I got the feeling that it was spelled differently.

"She mustn't have done an especially great job reverse engineering it," Composite continued. "A problem we'll correct at a later date. And even if she does know, she won't miss us. We didn't really set a time or anything, temporal flow differences and all. And if anyone wants to fight along the way, we'll give them more than they bargained for."

"If you want to do that, you're probably going to need a Pokémon and stay in that more human form of yours, unless you can hide your armor," Khrista responded. She glanced over at me for a moment before looking back at Composite. "Maria and I both have some pretty good connections with Pokémon around the world; we could probably get you a Pokémon that you could train and work with while you're here, at least."

"I _would_ ask if anyone from the PokeExplore Guild - a Guild of Pokémon that I lead - would want to work with you, but my PokeDex is region-locked, so I can't bring over any Pokémon that aren't native to Kalos or over a certain level," I added. "If you want to take one on, I'm sure that there a number of Pokémon who would be more than interested in having a Trainer."

"Huh. So most fights happen by proxy in this dimension…" Composite glanced into space for a bit more reading for a second, "Non-lethal by proxy. Not the kind we're used to. We'll have to think about it." Composite transformed back into their human form with a swirl of energy. "You can call me Ada in this form. And for the record, we can't hide our armor without transforming. Honestly we're not sure what that would look like apart from a swirl of red data cubes, and deactivating our fusion isn't really an option. We've only done it once, and that wasn't voluntary. An accident with a backfiring EMP. Same surge knocked out the fire sensors in the area, so we had to do some fast talking to get out of a medical exam by the local paramedics when the halon went off."

My mouth became more of a straight line when I heard Composite's comment on how they weren't used to what sorts of fights happened in their present dimension. I winced when the other added the mention of an EMP. "Ouch. I'd rather not imagine what _that_ must've felt like."

Khrista's nose scrunched up a little. "Me neither, and I've gotten myself shocked more than enough times by Pikachu to know Thundershocks are definitely more painful than most people let on." She motioned towards the stone arch that was a short distance away from where they were standing. "If you want to think about it, Ada, we're going to have to walk through a trail of wild Pokémon in order to get to the next town over, anyway. There's a cave coming up, too - Reflection Cave. Should be some interesting Pokémon hiding in there."

"Another cave?" Tim groaned. "I like the sun; why can't we stay out in it?"

"I know how you feel, Tim, but something tells me this cave is our only way to get to Shalour." I glanced at Khrista, who nodded. "All right, then. You good to go, Ada?"

"Caves… We can work with that. We've had to sleep in a few of those during our time with the D'ni." Ada's pupils flickered through green, orange, blue, and light gray for a second before returning to her normal piercing blue. "And seeing in the dark isn't a problem."

"I'm ready, not that you asked," Hunter added petulantly.

"Plus, it can't be much worse than Sector 1 on BSL. At least in these caves we shouldn't be constantly fending off Hornoad-Xs intent on infecting us, not that they could."

Khrista and I exchanged confused looks at that, as did my team behind us.

"...yeah, there's nothing dangerous like that around here," I said. "The worst we're going to run into are Trainers and wild Pokémon, and we can take care of them."

 _"Non-lethally,"_ Khrista added pointedly.

"We can handle that. Probably. Have to do a little reconfiguration, but it shouldn't be too hard. And all he has to do is refrain from chewing on people and not ram so hard." Ada experimentally held out two fingers stiffly and made a few jabs before trying a pinching motion. "Yeah, we can do this."

 **If you guys are curious about SabaraOne's side of the story, pop over to his profile and look for his most recent story! I'm definitely going to be keeping track of it myself as we go along. Heh heh.**

 **And a final warning - these chapters are gonna be longer than the ones I've normally written. My normal word count is 3-4K, sometimes 2, sometimes 6. These chapters got longer than 7K, so make sure you've got enough time to read!**

 **See you next time I update!**


	68. Kalos part 6

**Heh heh. I can finally say that this entire endeavor is fully written out and you guys are going to be in for an interesting ride - both for the rest of Kalos _and_ for what comes after. Heh heh heh.**

 **So I'm gonna be (hopefully) posting more than once a week on this so that you guys can catch up with what Maria's up to.**

 **Shadescribe - It is unsurprising indeed that Maria would be eager to meet more like her. :) And yes! Go check out SabaraOne!**

 **Chapter 68 – Kalos, part 6**

 **Maria's POV**

It turned out that Ada knew little to nothing about how Pokémon battles worked. Khrista had to make it a point to pull her back a couple times when tourists jumped into our path and demanded that one of us battle them.

At least Ada was able to learn a little bit about how things worked here, and Khrista and I were able to explain about the Pokémon League and the basic idea of what Team Flare was up to – mainly that it had something to do with the graveyard of stone monuments Khrista and I had passed through and a powerful weapon that was connected to the Legendaries of the region.

We also touched on some stuff about ourselves to at least explain a little about who we were: how Khrista and I were from another dimension ourselves and how we'd helped the people of Neo-Mobius before, and how Mobius and the Pokémon world had been fused together and Mobians, humans, and Pokémon were now living side by side. I didn't say anything about me being a Reploid – not yet, anyway. Ada was going to come along with us for at least a little while, but that didn't mean that I felt like saying everything about me yet.

Besides, I was more cautious about the fact that she was apparently used to being actually lethal more than anything else.

"You know, a Legendary Pokémon named Diancie lives in Reflection Cave," Khrista commented as we came out the other side of the cave. "She's a Fairy/Rock-Type and looks like she has a dress made of diamonds."

"Hm." I cocked my head to one side at that, eyebrows rising up a little in interest. "I'll have to go back there and see if I can speak with her later, then. I didn't see any Team Flare goons in there, so she should be okay for now." I looked ahead at the buildings that were in front of us, with what looked like a tall tower in the distance, and grinned. "This must be Shalour, then! And it's only about noon, too - I can get to the Gym and take Korrina on without running out of daylight!"

"If nothing else, it's a good chance to learn more about the way Pokémon battles work," Ada commented.

"And if we run into any Flare grunts we can probably get some information. I'm not very experienced in such things, but even I know that good intel is essential to forming a plan of attack." Hunter chimed in.

"Thanks for the input, but Khrista and I know already how things work in this dimension and what Pokémon Types are good against what," I replied. I started down the stone path and into the main part of town. "Okay, let's see...a-ha! There it is!"

I led Ada and the others towards a rather ornate-looking building in a far corner of the town, with pillars and a large dome over the top. There was a man standing in front of the entrance with a bow tie.

I frowned as we came up to the entrance. "You're the Gym Guide, right? What are you doing out here?"

"I'm afraid that the Gym Leader is undergoing some intensive training on top of the Tower of Mastery." The man motioned to the large, imposing tower that was rising up over the coast. "You'll have to wait for her to come back if you want to challenge her."

Ada started to step forward, but stopped herself before even taking her foot off the ground. I wondered what exactly was going through her head right at that moment, but decided against asking.

I frowned, then nodded. "All right. Thanks for the info." I started to turn, then paused and looked at the Guide again. "The Tower of Mastery - does it have any connections to Mega Evolution?"

The Guide blinked at that, then nodded. "Well, yes, but most Trainers who go in attempting to master Mega Evolution don't pass the guru's test for a Key Stone. I doubt that you will be able to pass that test."

"Well, it wouldn't hurt to try, right?" I looked over at Khrista with a confident smirk, then motioned for Ada and the rest of the group to follow after me. "Come on - let's go have a look at this Tower of Mastery."

Hunter and Ada exchanged looks for a moment. I got the feeling that there was something going on between them, but I decided against trying to figure out what it was.

I led the group down a set of stairs onto a well-tamped beach, then up a path to the tall tower that stood close to the coast and a short distance away from the town. A large wall ran around the strangely-shaped, but mostly circular tower, and we passed by a small number of houses as we climbed up a set of stairs to the entrance.

I paused at the entrance, then looked at the others. "You guys ready?"

"Why are you asking us?" Khrista raised an eyebrow. "You're the one who's going to be taking this test."

"Well, yeah, I guess." I rubbed the back of my head with a sheepish expression. "Still, though, we don't know what we're going to run into."

"Well, we don't plan on attacking anything, Right _Oy'an?_ " Ada shot a glance at the Metroid, who gave the impression of trying to look overly innocent, "And if it comes to it, we're both good at dodging."

Khrista and I exchanged looks at that, then stepped into the Tower of Mastery, followed by my team, Ada, and Hunter.

The inside of the tower was a large, tall circular chamber with a spiral staircase going up the wall. In the center was what looked like a large, dog-like creature standing on two legs with spikes coming from the top of its feet, back of its front paws, and one on its chest. There also appeared to be a door in the platform the statue was standing on, with a strange symbol carved on it that looked similar to DNA.

"Lucario?" I frowned. There was something different about the face, but I wasn't entirely sure what it was. "Hm. It looks like Lucario is closer to Mega Evolution than I thought."

I looked around for a moment, then crossed the floor towards the door on the platform. I put a hand up towards it, paused for a moment, then just pushed the door open.

On the other side of the door was a small room that appeared to be a simple bedroom and study. Standing in it was an old man and Korrina.

The man turned and looked at me as Khrista and Ada stood behind me in the doorway. "Oh? You must be Maria, then. Sycamore told me you would be coming – I guess you could say I'm an acquaintance of his. I'm called the Mega Evolution guru.. That isn't my real name, of course." He motioned for me to come closer. "Come here for a moment, will you?"

I stepped into the room, Khrista and Ada following after me, which caused the guru to incline his head.

"Three of you?" he asked. "I was only informed that there was only one other traveling with you - Khrista?"

Khrista nodded. "This is Ada; we ran into her in Geosenge. She's going to be traveling around with us for a while."

"Oh, don't mind me, I don't count," Hunter complained petulantly.

The guru and Korrina both jumped at Hunter's voice, the woman reaching towards one of the red and white PokeBalls on her belt.

"That Pokémon can speak?" Korrina asked in surprise.

"Actually...it isn't one," I replied. "It's a creature from another dimension - er, _he,_ I guess. Ada said his name is Hunter. He's what's called a Metroid."

"Though most of us can't talk either. The only reason I can is because _Bu'ir_ built cybernetic implants for me," Hunter angled his body slightly so that the light reflected off a network of metal filaments running like veins through his nuclei and jelly.

The guru and Korrina both looked as though they weren't sure what to make of what Hunter had just said.

"Perhaps we should continue talking outside of this room," the guru said carefully. "It is going to be far too cramped in my personal study."

I nodded and backed up out of the room, giving the guru and Korrina space to step out themselves.

"I'm glad you could make it to Shalour City so quickly, Maria." Korrina grinned widely. "My Lucario are in their PokeBalls, but they're definitely interested in you and glad that you're here."

"I'm glad I'm here too, Korrina." I grinned and chuckled a little as we moved to stand in a small circle in front of the Lucario statue.

"I assume that you are not only here to battle my granddaughter in a Gym Battle, but also to learn about Mega Evolution, correct?" the guru asked.

Ada glanced around and made sure she wasn't close enough to the statue for it to fall on her. I noticed that and frowned a little, then shook my head and looked back at the guru. Whatever it was, I'd probably figure it out later.

"Yeah, that's right." I cocked my head slightly, frowning a little. "I know that it was something that kind of got the jump on this dimension after Cyrus' Second Attempt, so I'm mostly in the dark about it. Khrista knows some of what's going on with it, though."

"Ah." The guru nodded. "So I see. And I assume that you are more than aware of what regular Pokémon Evolution is and what it is that it is capable of."

"Well, yeah; every Trainer knows that." I shrugged one shoulder. "It's an abrupt change that a Pokémon undergoes when he, she, or it reaches a certain level of power. Some need specific items, though, and there are some that can't evolve at all."

"Others need times of day, close bonds with their Trainers, or specific areas," Khrista added.

"And then there are the ones who decide against evolving," I said pointedly.

"Exactly so," the guru responded.

"Mega Evolution is an Evolution that transcends that," Korrina grinned.

"Indeed! Mega Evolution is a transformation of Pokémon that were thought to be unable to evolve any further! It is a whole new level of power!" The guru made a wide motion, as though he was trying to encompassing the tower.

"That comes with its own problems, I'm assuming," I said.

Korrina nodded. "Well, of course; that kind of power can be dangerous, considering that it causes a large influx of power. But with a strong bond between Trainer and Pokémon, it's possible to learn to control it. Not all Pokémon can do something like that, though."

"There is a reason why I used the word "transformation" a moment ago," the guru spoke up. "Mega Evolution differs from Evolution because it ends after a certain amount of time. In other words, it is a temporary Evolution."

"So it only lasts…a certain number of minutes? Hours?" I raised an eyebrow curiously.

"Depending on why the Pokémon Mega Evolved, I believe the maximum is 45 minutes," the guru replied. "Most Pokémon only last as long as a battle does, however, to keep Pokémon from exhausting themselves. That said, we know very little about it, especially since this only came into effect after the Second Attempt. What we know now is that it requires special items. And the most important element, as has already been said, is the trust between Pokémon and Trainer. That bond is required in order for the Mega Evolution to work, as well as two items: a Mega Stone for the Pokémon and the Mega Ring, which has a mysterious stone called the Key Stone set in it, for the Trainer."

I nodded at that. "I see. Conduits for energy to pass, essentially."

"Essentially, yes." The guru nodded. "Considering that you are a Champion five times over already and are traveling through our region, I would like to give this Mega Ring to you, Maria. However—"

"You have to beat me in a Gym battle first!" Korrina finished. She gave a bright, wide grin. "And I'm looking forward to seeing how well you'd be able to handle my team with the team that you have now! I'll be waiting for you back at the Gym."

With that, she skated out of the Tower, leaving the rest of us behind.

I looked at Khrista and raised an eyebrow curiously; Khrista gave a nod in response – this is how things happened in the games.

A grin crossed my face. "All right then. Let's go – I've got a Gym Leader to challenge!"

"Uh, other than the skill of the opponent, is there any difference between a Gym battle and a normal Trainer battle?" Ada asked.

"It's part of a competition for Trainers," I explained as we stepped out of the Tower of Mastery. "Trainers as a rule of thumb like to have something to aim for, like being the strongest. The League was set up in order to prove who the strongest is in any given region of the world, and when you beat it, you become a certified Champion of that particular region." She grinned. "Trainers have to beat eight Gyms, then go to the League headquarters for the region and beat the top Elite Four Trainers and the current Champion or Champion stand-in. I've already done that five other times in other regions, and the Gym here is the third one out of eight that I can challenge."

"Maria is basically going to be going through an obstacle course in order to get to the Gym Leader - Korrina, in this case - battling Trainers who are apprenticing under her," Khrista explained. "If she fails to beat Korrina, she can come back and challenge her multiple times."

"But I can only fight Gym Leaders once a day, so if I can't beat Korrina, I'll probably spend the rest of the day training somewhere near here," I added.

"But apart from being more structured and harder to get to, the Gym battles themselves are the same as a normal Trainer battle?" Ada asked.

"Pretty much, yeah." I shrugged. "They kinda had to set it up this way because otherwise it'd be total chaos across the regions, with Trainers battling each other constantly in an argument over who was the strongest. We could have ended up having a war on our hands if the Leagues weren't set up to give Trainers a better idea of who to aim for and what sorts of guidelines they have to follow in order to get there."

"That would be a bad thing," Ada said. "I may not be one who does much in the way of non-lethal, but even I can agree that war is a very bad thing that should be avoided."

We soon reached the main part of Shalour again, and when we made a beeline back to the Gym, the Guide was no longer standing at the entrance.

"Our path is open." I grinned and rubbed my hands together. "Time to challenge the next Gym!" She looked over at her team. "You guys ready to roll?"

There came determined battle cries from my team in response, which only caused my grin to widen.

"Then let's go!" I promptly charged into the Gym, my team returning to their PokeBalls in streams of red light as I burst through the doors, Khrista, Ada, and Hunter right behind me.

The inside of the Gym looked like a large skating rink, with rails that led to various platforms on the inside of the outer rink. There was a raised platform in the center with the PokeBall symbol on it, but no way to get to it.

And Korrina was standing on that platform, hands on her hips and a wide grin on her face.

I stopped just on the edge of the rink and frowned, putting my hands on my hips as Ada, Hunter, and Khrista came up behind me. "Hmm...roller skate mechanics, huh? Well, since I'm too heavy for those...Korrina, I'm using a hoverboard in here! Skates won't exactly sit well with me!"

"What, seriously?!" Korrina looked at me with a wide-eyed look. "Why's that?"

"It's because I'm a walking bundle of metal and gears and I'd squish any skates that I might get!" I reached onto my back as me holographic clothes flickered, and I pulled out of nowhere what looked like a red and orange metal box. It unfolded, and I threw it out in front of me before jumping on, and I zipped onto the skating rink and caught up with one of the four Gym Trainers.

The next four battles were handled by Delta and Vivi, and they went by rather quickly since all the Trainers were using Fighting-Types. With each Trainer I took out, a section of railing rose up between Korrina's platform and the outer rink.

I let out a laugh as Delta took out the last Trainer's Hariyama and returned her to her PokeBall as the last section of railing rose up. "Whoo! That took hardly any time at all!"

"Maria, that was a good half hour!" Khrista called back.

"Was it really?" I laughed again as I maneuvered herself to one end of the railing. "I always lose track of time when I get into stuff like this." I jumped onto the railing, the hoverboard screeching against it as it slid across the thin metal to Korrina's platform.

"Yeah, 28 minutes and 35.62 seconds," Ada commented, "Subtract 15.37 seconds if you're going from when you engaged the first Trainer instead of when you entered the rink."

"Huh." My eyebrows shot up at that. I shrugged a moment later. "Not exactly a new record for me, but that was definitely pretty quick."

"And impressive," Korrina added. "I don't think I've had Trainers come through my Gym so fast before." She grinned. "You'd better be ready, though, because now it's time for Lady Korrina's big appearance! Let's get this show on the road! Mienfoo, go!"

"Delta, let's do this!"

The Braixen popped out of her PokeBall seconds after a little red and yellow, mongoose-like Pokémon, who instantly moved into a martial arts-like stance.

Delta eyed her opponent with a curious expression before she snorted and pulled the stick out of her tail. She waved it around, gathering purple-pink energy on the tip before shooting a beam of it at Meinfoo.

Her opponent ran right into it, only to come out on the other side looking really battered before punching Delta in the nose and retreating back a short distance.

"Ow!" Delta rubbed her nose and winced as Korrina pulled out what looked like a purple spray bottle and spritzed Mienfoo, causing the Pokemon to suddenly look much more energetic.

"Keep those Psybeams going," I encouraged. "That Fighting-Type doesn't look like it has all that much defense."

"Hit that Braixen with another Power-Up Punch!" Korrina declared, pointing towards Delta rather dramatically.

Mienfoo lunged for Delta again, only to get hit in the face with another Psybeam. This time, the attack sent it whirling on one foot, and the mongoose-like Pokémon collapsed.

"Let's give Vivi a turn!" I quickly switched Delta for Vivi as Korrina exchanged the knocked-out Mienfoo for a larger, humanoid, muscular Pokémon. "A Machoke, huh? Psybeam it!"

"Rock Tomb!" Korrina countered with a confident tone.

The Psybeam hit the Machoke in the face, but the Fighting-Type shook it off before slamming his hands into the ground. The platform rumbled underneath Vivi before exploding up with a shower of rocks and boulders.

"Ow!" Vivi winced, pulling back and away from the boulders. It looked like the butterfly Pokémon was having a difficult time staying in the air.

"One more Psybeam," I encouraged. "You can do it - you've got him on the ropes and you're faster too!"

The second Psybeam hit the Machoke right in the chest and sent him stumbling back. He tried valiantly in order to stay upright, but he gave out and completely collapsed.

"All right, Vivi; pull back!" I returned the Vivillon and switched for Delta again.

"Hawlucha, go!" Korrina released her third Pokémon, which looked like a bird Pokémon of some kind with a mask over his face. "Hone Claws!"

Hawlucha started scraping his clawed hands together, somehow managing to grin around his beak.

"I don't think so!" Delta waved her stick again, and this time solid purple chunks formed around where Hawlucha was standing before slamming into the Pokémon. "Psyshock!"

"Gah!" The Hawlucha stumbled back before shaking his head, eyes narrowing at Delta. "You tricksterous vixen! Flying Press!"

Hawlucha leapt up into the air and slammed down on top of Delta, causing her to cry out in pain as she was pressed against the ground. He jumped up and almost seemed to glide back to his original position in front of Korrina a moment later, allowing for Delta to get up to her feet.

Delta gripped her side with one paw and hissed in pain before glaring at Hawlucha. She waved her stick in his face and set off another Psybeam, causing him to squawk in surprise before collapsing, paws pressed down on where his ears probably were.

Korrina returned Hawlucha to his PokeBall with a pained gasp. "Oh! I have been defeated! Alack, alay! Lady Korrina gave a terrible display!" Korrina put a hand to her forehead and feigned fainting, getting a laugh from me in response. "This is it. I must give up my title and admit that your strength far exceeds—" She laughed, standing upright again. "Just teasing! But here's your Rumble Badge. Boy, you'll be rolling in 'em soon if you aren't already!"

I accepted the glinting piece of metal with a laugh, smirking a little at the two clashing fists that made up the symbol.

"You know the drill by now – Pokémon as high as Level 50 will obey you if they're traded, and you can use the HM Surf now, too! And here – a little extra gift from me." Korrina handed over an orange disk, on which the number "TM 98" was placed for all to see. "It's Power-Up Punch; you saw my Meinfoo use it. It does exactly as it says – it powers up a Pokémon's attack power when they slam into their opponent!"

"Sweet!" My eyebrows shot up. "I can think of a few Pokémon who would be more than willing to use this! Thanks!"

Korrina gave a laugh, only for her grin to fade a moment later. "Look…I do have to apologize. You'll have to make it up to the top of the Tower of Mastery if you want the Mega Ring. I'm sorry for sending you this way and that. I swear, I'm not giving you the runaround! You've done great tolling with the punches. So great that I'd like to ask you a favor…"

"What kind of favor?" I cocked my head to one side curiously.

"Battle me again, won't you? But this time, it won't be just another Gym Battle. I want a battle between equals! As two Trainers who can use Mega Evolution! I'll be waiting for you with Lucario at the top of the Tower of Mastery!"

With that, Korrina skated off the platform and down a rail to the entrance of the Gym. I followed after her on my hoverboard.

"Well, Ada, Hunter what'd you think?" I smirked as I came to a stop in front of Ada, Hunter, and Khrista. "You got to see some Type Advantage strategy and how a Gym Challenge is done!"

"Yes, and it was quite informative. I'm familiar with the concept of a type advantage, but mostly only in the linear 'weapon triangle' format. I get the feeling that the types around here are more complex than that though," Ada replied.

"Yeah, I'm curious about that too," Hunter added. "Of course I'm curious about most things, so I didn't mention it."

I laughed. "There's seventeen Types total-"

"Eighteen," Khrista corrected. "You're forgetting that Fairy-Types were discovered recently."

"Right, right." I rolled my eyes at Khrista, who did the same in return. "Anyway, each Type has at least one weakness and one strength, and some of them have immunities to certain Types - Ghost-Types, for example, can't be harmed by Normal-Type attacks, like Tackle or Quick Attack. And Normal-Types can't be harmed by Ghost-Type attacks like Astonish or Shadow Ball. It can be a bit difficult to keep up with all the Type match-ups - especially since some Pokémon can be of _two_ Types - but it's something that makes battles even more interesting."

"Like how in the battle, Maria's Pokémon were using Psychic-Type attacks, which are strong against Fighting-Types," Khrista added. "It's the brain vs. brawn idea, basically."

Ada nodded. "Okay, that one I can understand fine. Used it on occasion too. Never underestimate the calming effect that slamming an angry thug into a wall a few times can have. _Especially_ when the slamming is done without so much as moving a finger."

Khrista laughed. There was a darker undertone to it that made me look at her with a cautious expression. "Oh, I know _that_ feeling _really_ well. Comes with the territory of being who I am."

"Who you are?" Ada repeated.

Khrista smirked. "Yeah. I've got access to all eighteen Types and can become a mix of two of them whenever I feel like it."

"That sounds like a mixed blessing. And speaking of telekinesis…."

Ada extended the index finger of her right hand and spun her wrist. Hunter, glowing a white-green color, whirled around in a circle and flew into a stone wall with a squeal of surprise. He took the impact, using the wall to springboard and slam into Ada, sending both of them tumbling.

"Good! You're getting better at that. He's been having trouble with reacting to that sort of attack." She stood up, brushed the dust off her shirt and pushed her hair back behind her ears.

Khrista's and my eyebrows rose at the sudden psychic display. I guess there was more to Ada than we knew at first glance.

"Impressive," Khrista commented. "That might explain why there were so many Psychic-Type Pokémon coming close to us in Reflection Cave - your psychic abilities must've attracted their attention."

"I thought it was odd that the Wobbuffet got so close," I muttered.

"That makes sense, Ada agreed, "though most of my psionic powers are telekinetic in nature. I'm mostly only able to communicate telepathically with other telepaths, which is part of how Hunter survived his first meeting with Samus. I told him to get behind me before he got his implants, so he couldn't speak to her."

"Huh." Khrista inclined her head a little at that, then nodded. "I'll have to see if you can learn some of the techniques Pokémon can use, maybe, like the Psyshock that Delta used."

"We don't have to do it if you don't want to, though," I added. "Speaking of Delta, though, we should probably swing by the Pokémon Center so that I can heal up my team. I don't know what's going to happen when we head back to the Tower of Mastery, and I want to make sure that I'm ready for whatever's coming."

Ada nodded. "That goes for any form of combat, or anything else really. An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure, at least I think that's how you humans say it."

"Eh...maybe?" I shrugged. "I never really heard that saying before, but there's probably a lot of sayings out there that I haven't heard yet."

"You should hear all the Mandalorian words for 'idiot,'" Hunter said happily. Ada wisely hushed him before he could start listing them off.

We left the Gym and stopped by the Pokémon Center as I had requested, then made our way back to the Tower of Mastery. As soon as we entered it, we caught sight of the guru coming out of his study.

"Ah! Korrina, I mean, the Mega Evolution successor, is waiting for you." The guru motioned toward the circular staircase. "You'll find a balcony at the top of the tower. She's waiting for you there."

"Thanks." I gave a nod in response and started towards the stairs.

 **Change in POV**

Ada, Hunter, and Khrista tried to follow Maria, but the guru moved in front of them.

"I'm afraid that this is something your friend will have to do alone," the guru said seriously. "You will have to wait for her down here."

Khrista frowned at that, but she didn't seem to be too disappointed. She simply nodded instead. "All right. Then that's what we'll do." She watched as Maria started climbing up around the circular stairway at a fast rate before she quickly disappeared from sight. After a moment, she looked over at Ada and Hunter. "So, besides the Metroid universe, where have you been?"

Ada was rather quick to start explaining. "Well… I was created in the dimension you would call Tron. Specifically, the timeline from the old Tron 2.0 video game. I've reviewed the events of both the 2.0 and Legacy timelines, and personally I prefer 2.0, but I'm probably biased.

"Once I broke out of Fcon's lab, I entered their computer system and fought through several systems. Not really sure what I was looking for other than escape. After about thirty seconds - the equivalent of a few hours in meatspace, I was attacked by Fcon's Seeker worms. I derezed four of them, but eight more sprung up. I'm not sure how they managed to not hang the computer, they use so much resources. But anyway, about that time I instinctively used Chaos Control to escape to a dimension from a series of computer games called Myst, which oddly exists in the dimension it takes place in, though the story behind the game's existence is a little different. That's where I got the Books I use."

"Tron and...Myst?" Khrista frowned. "I'm familiar with what happens with Tron normally, but I don't think I've heard of Myst before." She paused. "Are you saying you got your ability to travel between dimensions from there, basically?"

"Mostly. I can in theory use Chaos Control to travel between dimensions, but it's pretty instinctive and I can't control the destination. Usually I have a sort of constantly regenerating reservoir of Chaos energy, but I don't seem to have that here. My theory is that there's a connection to the presence of Chaos Emeralds in this dimension. Mostly I use Books, easier to control."

"But you said you need to be in a location before you can write one," Khrista pointed out.

"For Linking Books, yes, but if that were the case, how could the D'ni connect to any new Ages - The worlds the Books link to - especially since they're currently on homeworld number three, the first one's sun went nova and the second was virtually exterminated in a biowar attack," the last part almost growled, "The surviving D'ni evacuated a mere two or three hundred years before the humans discovered the D'ni caverns under modern-day New Mexico. But anyway, the D'ni discover new Ages by writing them in larger books using a technique called 'The Art,'" Ada reached behind her back and pulled a large book out of thin air.

"So, you have subspace too," Khrista said, raising an eyebrow.

"We just call it Hammerspace, but if it's what Maria got her hoverboard out of, then yes, same concept. But anyway, this is a Descriptive Book." Ada telekinetically held the book, which was significantly larger than the average dictionary, in midair and flipped it open. The first page held the Linking Panel. She turned the pages, showing page after page of carefully written calligraphy. "This Book links to our first - and so far only - Age, Awakening. Because the multiverse has a sense of humor, it happens to be the game probably known on your world as Elite: Dangerous. This dimension is where we really got to know our sisters because they appear as Ghost Ships."

"Ghost Ships?" Khrista repeated. She frowned a little at that. "Wait...a game. That means they're like avatars here in this dimension-real people, but not quite all there most of the time, even if their teams are."

"Yeah, Ghost Ships are indistinguishable from normal starships except that all of their callsigns are prefixed by 'CMDR' and they have no visible pilots. We first met our sisters, Camanion the Mobian and Risa, her AI creation, in a video chat in Fcon's systems, but we didn't really get to know them until this dimension because they play the game. A lot. Camanion's working on a holopresence VR system so that she can more directly interact with passengers and such. That'll probably involve flying to some distant system so that I can more easily escape the burglary charge when I break into her ship and install the kit."

Ada flipped the Book shut and pointed to a symbol on the front. "That's the Elite Dangerous logo. No Idea how I did that. So after that Camanion told me to check out a dimension from her favorite magazine humor column, and that's where I spend most of my time - never mind the fact that I've spent about six months there, six months in Elite Dangerous and a year on and around Myst. It's a pretty normal Earth except for a few computer centers, the differences being of the sort you _really_ don't want to know about. So after that, I spent a month in the Metroid dimension, specifically Metroid Fusion. Spent another week back home, and now I'm here. According to Camanion I've been around for just over a year objective time. She claims she did something like calculate the differences in timeflow, but I'm pretty sure she just compared the timestamps on files from the time of my breakout and the files being created at the time she told me that. Fcon cracked into her home network to lift Risa's code and her genome to create me, and she turned right around and sliced into their network. Of course the question has to be asked about how Fcon found out about them."

"Yeah, definitely…." Khrista frowned. "She could be tracking the time that's passing in your home dimension; that's how Maria's keeping track of how old we are. Technically, she's six years older than the rest of us because originally Neo-Mobius was in a faster dimension than ours - a year here was a day there. Maria spent a year running around on the purely Pokémon side of the world as a Vulpix - a six-tailed fire fox, but not the internet browser - for a year before she challenged the Leagues for five years, so she's technically 23, not 18. After the Second Attempt, time flow here could have changed though...especially since Cyrus probably all but stopped it while he was on top." Her frown deepened, and she bared her teeth in something that resembled a scowl.

"Second Attempt?" Ada's eyes became distant for a moment, and she frowned when they refocused. "I'm not aware of any sort of event like that here."

"It's something specific to this dimension." Khrista huffed. "Cyrus - the guy who led Team Galactic - got stopped by Maria a few years back. His plan _had_ been to wipe out anything that made humans imperfect, which in _his_ mind was the spirit of mankind. Knowledge, Emotion, Willpower - he wanted to get rid of it. He failed the first time, but he succeeded the second time and basically turned the world into a dead zone. He wanted to suck Maria into it, too, but she was off in another dimension and couldn't be reached. So he ended up getting me and Maria's siblings instead. That's where I got my Multi-Type power from - entering the dimension just... _gave_ it to me somehow, and I'm not entirely sure why."

Khrista paused for a moment, then shook her head. "Anyway, I took Cyrus down in Maria's place, and she managed to get here after we'd rebuilt and got everyone who'd been dragged over back home. Things haven't been... _entirely_ back to normal since then, but at least Cyrus can't pull those kinds of stunts anymore."

There came the sound of two sets of feet hitting the staircase above them, causing Khrista to look up.

"Sounds like Maria's coming back down," Khrista commented. She frowned. "Who else is coming down with her, though?"

She got her answer a moment later when Maria jogged off the base of the stairs, followed closely by a Lucario. There was a wide, confident grin on her face, and a black bracelet on her left wrist that definitely hadn't been there before.

"You got it?" Khrista called over.

"Yup!" Maria raised her left arm as she came over with the Lucario, showing off the bracelet even more. "And Han's going to be traveling with us for a while, too - he's actually related to Luke, the Lucario I trained in Sinnoh, so I'm looking forward to seeing how he fares on the team."

Han bowed in greeting. _"It will be an honor to travel with you on your quest."_

"No need to be so formal, buddy." Maria patted Han on the shoulder. "I may be a Guildmaster, but I don't stand on that kind of ceremony normally."

Han blinked at that and looked at Maria in surprise. He nodded a moment later and smirked. _"All right. Finally, a chance to relax a bit without my brother getting on my back about ceremony."_

"Know the feeling," Ada commented.

Han looked at Ada with a curious expression, red eyes sparking with interest. _"Really? You don't look like someone who's stuck in a tower for days and days on end meditating because you're supposed to be able to bond with nearly absolutely everybody because you're descended from the first Lucario who_ could _Mega Evolve."_ He motioned to the giant statue in the center of the room.

"Han, you may have a Trainer, but that doesn't mean that you should not abandon your heritage," the guru said pointedly.

 _"_ _Shut it, old man; you know I never liked being treated like royalty anyway."_ Han waved the guru off. _"So, Maria - are we gonna go or not?"_

"Oh, I like you," Ada smirked.

"Oh, we're gonna go," Maria replied brightly with a grin. "Next town over's our next destination - Coumarine City. You guys ready to roll?"

"Why not?" Hunter said cheerfully.

 **Here and gone; that's three Gyms under Maria's belt and five more to go!**


	69. Kalos part 7

**So...many...words...and this isn't even the longest chapter yet. Heh heh. SabaraOne and I really went all out with this.**

 **Anyway, here we go!**

 **Chapter 69 – Kalos, part 7**

 **Maria's POV**

Courmarine certainly seemed to live up to its name: as soon as we stepped off the route and into the main part of town, they were first met by a collection of stone piers where boats were tied off.

"Now I get the "marine" part of the name," I commented dryly.

"The town's split into two parts," Khrista said. "There's the coastal part and a section that's closer inland. We're going to have to take a tram in order to get there – and get to your next Gym."

"Sweet." I grinned widely. "Lead the way then, experienced avatar."

Khrista snorted at that, but obliged, leading us past a small number of stands and what looked like a hotel before they reached the tram station.

As soon as they stepped inside, Khrista and I stopped short in surprise.

"Professor Sycamore?" I asked. "What are you doing here?"

The dark-haired man turned his head, and he smiled brightly as soon as he saw the two of us. "Why hello, you two! And Maria – congratulations on obtaining what Trainers require for the actual act of Mega Evolution!" He motioned to the black bracelet on my left wrist, as well as to Han. "A Mega Stone for the Pokémon, a Mega Ring for the Trainer, and a bond that I can only imagine will grow stronger."

Han huffed and rolled his eyes at that. _"Yeah, yeah, yeah."_

"A strong bond is vital between Trainers and their Pokémon." A brown-haired woman who was standing next to Sycamore nodded sagely. "I would hate to imagine what sorts of chaos would occur if an inexperienced Trainer forced their Pokémon into Mega Evolution."

"Exactly." Sycamore nodded in agreement. He paused. "Oh! I've completely forgotten to introduce my friend – this is Diantha, the present Champion of the Kalos region. Diantha, I'm sure you've heard of—"

"Maria and Khrista, yes." Diantha stepped forward and gave a nod in greeting. "I have been waiting for the day that you two would set foot on my region's soil." She blinked in confusion when she noticed Ada and Hunter. "And who are these two?"

"Ada and Hunter." I motioned to the two of them. "We met them in Geosenge; they're going to be traveling around with us for a while. Guys, this is Professor Sycamore, one of the head researchers into Pokémon."

"A pleasure." Sycamore smiled kindly. He looked at Hunter curiously. "I haven't seen a Pokémon such as this one before."

"I keep telling people, I'm not a Pokémon!"

"You've only done it twice," Ada pointed out to Hunter. "Actually he's a Metroid, He's from a different dimension like me. He imprinted on me when he hatched from his egg," Ada grinned slightly, "And I stopped trying to get rid of him after a few hours."

"A creature from a different dimension, you say?" Sycamore's eyebrows rose at that. "Fascinating! I hadn't thought that I would meet a creature of any sort from another dimension like this! Do you think a PokeBall would affect you just as well as it affects normal Pokémon?"

"I wouldn't try it," Khrista spoke up. "These things can leech off your life force if they feel like it."

"Ah." Sycamore backed up a step from Hunter. "I see."

"Try it," Hunter said dangerously, his tone at odds with his childlike voice.

Sycamore looked unnerved, and he shook his head before looking back at me. "Well, I can assume that you know know how Mega Evolution works just as we do, but we still don't know why it decided to originate in Kalos after the Second Attempt."

I nodded, tapping the Mega Ring on my left wrist thoughtfully. I paused a moment later. "Maybe it has something to do with Geosenge," I suggested, getting a look from Khrista.

"Geosenge? That old archeological site?" Diantha inclined her head. "I heard that Lysandre was considering looking into something there."

"Well, it's got connections to an ancient weapon – it's a _grave site_ where Pokémon lives were given to power something," I said seriously. "That's what a Sigilyph there told me, and I'm inclined to believe what those Pokémon say."

Diancie and Sycamore exchanged looks.

"You don't mean to say…oh, dear." Diantha gained a worried expression.

"We saw Team Flare there, but the grunts disappeared before we could run them down," Khrista added.

"Oh, dear…."

"I'll have to make a few calls." Sycamore suddenly looked serious. "If Lysandre is connected at all to Team Flare, then we are going to have to move quickly in order to prevent him from causing anything similar to Cyrus' disaster. No doubt he will be going after either the Legendary of Life or the Legendary or Death."

"Or both," I added. "Cyrus went after Dialga and Palkia. I wouldn't be surprised if Lysandre goes after Xerneas and Yveltal in order to accomplish whatever he's planning." I paused. "You do have a third Legendary here, right?"

Sycamore nodded. "Yes – the Legendary of Balance, Zygarde. But no one has seen him or the other two within my lifetime – I don't know if we could be capable of finding their hiding places, much less anything on contacting them directly."

"Pull a few strings with the other profs and get into contact with my guild," I said. "I've already got them on the lookout for things that shouldn't be happening in Kalos; I'm sure giving them something else to look for will help us out immensely."

"Yes, certainly." Sycamore paused. "Ah, that's right – Maria, I know you have been through the various regions and Leagues multiple times – do you have the HM Fly with you?"

"Indeed I do." I pulled out a cylindrical case filled with disks of various colors and pointed to one of eight disks that were at the very bottom of the case. I'd had this TM case ever since I'd traveled around in Kanto, and I wasn't planning on letting go of it anytime soon. "Hidden Machine Fly, right down there. I'm planning on using it on Tim sometime soon."

Sycamore relaxed. "That is a relief. I had been considering giving it to you, but if you already have one, then I can give this to Calem or Serena when they pass through here – I heard from Grant earlier this afternoon that they had just beaten his Gym, so they are not all that far behind you."

I nodded in response. "Great; I was wondering if they were going to catch up and challenge me again sometime. Thanks for the heads-up; I'll probably beat the Gym here and stay the night before thinking of where to go next."

"Excellent. Well then, I had best be on my way – perhaps I can meet them in Shalour before they get this far." Sycamore bowed to Dianthe. "I must take my leave, my dear. I hope you don't mind."

"Not at all," Dianthe replied. "It's always a pleasure to be in your company."

Sycamore gave a slight smile, then bounded out of the tram station.

Dianthe chuckled as Sycamore disappeared, only for her expression to become more serious. "If Lysandre is behind this, I will have to be more careful around him in Lumiose. He has his own café there – maybe his followers tend to gather there more often than in other places. It's called the Lysandre Café, if you are ever interested in investigating it yourself."

I nodded. "We'll make sure to keep an eye out for it the next time we're in Lumiose." I paused. "Have they solved the power outage problem yet?"

Dianthe smiled. "Yes, Clemont did. I heard that he called in some help from another region in order to assist him, and he will still be in town for a few days more. I believe he might be a friend of yours, fellow Champion."

I frowned at that. "Hmm…someone good with…" My eyes widened slowly. "I can only think of two people who might be able to fit that description. Does this person have yellow fur or a bright orange mustache?"

Dianthe chuckled. "You will simply have to come to Lumiose and see for yourself." With that, she stepped out of the tram station.

"Huh, an ancient weapon of incredible power… Wonder how it'd react to a couple pounds of TNT down the barrel," Ada mused.

"It's not a conventional weapon," Khrista replied. "I've seen this thing on a Nintendo 3DS screen; it's huge, looks like a flower, and definitely is _not_ something that you want to throw TNT at. The energy backlash that could result might end up taking out Kalos entirely."

"Not something that we want to happen," I agreed. "Let's get on that tram; I'm planning on tackling that Gym before nightfall. We can stay at the Pokémon Center for the night, and since I didn't see one down here, it's probably on the other side of the tram."

We were quick to board the tram, and the tram ride itself was both short and uphill. By the time they reached the end of the line, they were far inland and surrounded by much more greenery than they had been on the coast.

I took in a breath of fresh air as they stepped out of the tram station. "Mm. Smells almost like Pallet Town."

"Pallet Town's on a plain, isn't it?" Khrista asked, frowning.

"Somewhat. There's a good deal of forest, too, but it's right out on the coast, so there's a lot more open space," I replied. I clapped her hands together. "So! Time to find that Gym."

"I know where it is," Khrista replied. "Come on."

Khrista led us down a short path that led away from the tram station towards a cliff face. Dug into the cliff was a cave, with two small pillars on either side of the cave entrance with PokeBall symbols on either side.

"A cave?" I raised an eyebrow. "The second Gym was in one, too – but there's no way they could be the same Type…." I went to one of the short pillars that was standing on either side of the cave entrance and inspected the engraving on it. "Courmarine City Pokémon Gym. Leader: Ramos; the old growth is still in bloom." I grinned. "Grass-Types."

"Grass-Types?" Delta looked up at me, ears perking up at least a little. "You mean—"

"Looks like you're taking point again." I grinned. "Tim, too; and considering how fast you two have been getting stronger, I think that the two of you are going to end up hitting your final evolution stage in there." I nodded back to the team. "You guys know the drill. There's definitely going to be an obstacle course in there."

The team quickly returned to their PokeBalls, then I stepped into the Gym, followed by Ada, Hunter, and Khrista.

 **Change in POV**

Maria's train of thought proved to be right; the inside of the Gym was a gigantic tree, with platforms built into it at regular intervals. Ropes were hung from each platform in order to let Trainers to climb up the tree.

Maria whistled. "Sweet. This guy took Grass-Type Gyms to the next level." She rubbed her hands together, then started for the first rope and climbed up to the first platform. She could be heard crowing with laughter twice after she'd disappeared from the sight of the others.

Khrista snorted at Maria's confident cries and shook her head. "Sounds like Maria's going to get done with this place even faster than the Shalour one." She cocked her head to one side for a moment, then looked over at Ada. "You know, I don't think Evie's met you properly yet."

Ada inclined her head slightly. "...Nope, I haven't. Advantage of being half AI, I don't forget anything unless I want to, and I _never_ delete memories from the real world. Sometimes I'll delete memories of playing a video game or a VR training mission so I can replay them fresh, but if it happened in the real world I don't touch it."

Khrista took the PokeBall off her belt and rolled it around in her hand for a moment before popping it open, releasing what looked like a little gray, fluffy cat with wide purple eyes that stood on her two legs. She looked up at Ada and Hunter for a moment before ducking behind Khrista and peering around her Trainer's legs.

Khrista chuckled and knelt down, patting the cat-like Pokémon between her two ears. "It's okay, Evie. I just wanted to introduce you to a couple people who are going to be traveling around with us for a while." She nodded for Ada to come a little closer. "This is Ada; the creature behind her is named Hunter."

Hunter dropped down from his usual head height to Evie's, mandables almost touching the ground, "Hi! My name's _Oy'an_ , but everyone calls me Hunter. Who are you?"

The little Pokémon pulled back and away nervously at the sudden approach of the Metroid, hiding even more behind Khrista. _"Evie."_

"She's still learning how to control her abilities; you might not want to get too close," Khrista warned, giving Hunter a pointed look. "Espurr at her age have a lot of psychic power that they're still learning to control. When she evolves into a Meowstic, she'll have a better handle on it, but I'm not going to push her to that." She kept petting Evie between her ears in a comforting gesture, adding, "She doesn't like conflict very much. Mostly, I've been training her to control her abilities, rather than get stronger like Maria's team has been."

There came a whoop from somewhere up the tree. "Nice one, Delta!"

Hunter floated back up a little. "Nice to meet you Evie." He gestured with a mandible towards the tree, adding, "Well, it sounds like someone's having fun."

"Maria lived in this dimension for a good six years last time she was here, so I'm not surprised," Khrista replied dryly.

Evie remained where she was, clinging to Khrista's leg and looking at Hunter with a nervous expression. After a moment, she tilted her head to one side. _"What are you and your Trainer? I can hear voices going between you."_

Khrista blinked at that, then frowned and looked at the Espurr with an expression of disapproval. "Evie, you shouldn't be eavesdropping on other people's telepathic conversations. It's not polite."

 _"_ _Sorry…."_

 _"_ Oh, it's no problem. I'm a Metroid, a creature from another dimension, and my _Bu'ir_ is a Mobian cyborg named Composite, but they disguise themselves as a human named Ada so that she doesn't scare the humans. We're both good at learning languages, so we're trying to learn Pokémon language. We each learn different words and phrases, so we tell each other telepathically. Plus, in an emergency, telepathy is faster than sound. But neither of us are Pokémon."

 _"_ _O-oh."_ Evie ducked her head a little, embarrassed. She lifted her head again a moment later. _"I know what a Mobian is. I met one once. She was nice, and quiet, and said her name was Sally."_

"Sally?" Khrista blinked in surprise as her eyebrows rose. She looked over at Ada. "She must be talking about Sally Acorn; that must mean she's in the region somewhere."

Ada's eyes unfocused for a moment. "Sally Acorn…. Sally Acorn… Yeah, got it. Chipmunk, Princess of the Acorn kingdom, right?"

"Yeah." Khrista nodded. "Maria ran into her and the rest of the main group in Sinnoh, before the Second Attempt. She's going to want to know about this; if Amy's in the region, and maybe someone else, there's a chance that we could run into more Mobians the more we travel around."

"Well, I for one wouldn't complain," Hunter said. "I'm always interested in meeting new people."

Ada started before holding out her left arm, palm up and closing her hand. A sort of bracelet appeared in a swirl of red energy. "One moment, I need to take this." A hologram projected from a sort of gem-like nub on top, though Khrista couldn't see what it was. Hunter zipped up to his usual position. "Keely? Where are you? Did something happen?..." Ada sighed. "What part of 'stay home' did you not understand? … Oh, Condor made you do it eh? … Well, since he's only in control of the fighters, he can't really make you do anything …" She sighed again. "Well, stay up there and stay out of sight. And put Condor on the line… I told both of you to stay put. What went wrong? … Well, next time, follow orders or I'll put you in charge of the T6 and have you fly scrap out of Maine Hub until you fall apart … Of course not! I'd never _really_ do that to you … Well go back to your training hotshot and next time don't try and convince Keely to follow me when I tell you not to. And stay in the fighter bay, I know that look!"

The device's hologram disappeared.

"Who was that?" Khrista asked.

"My starship AIs. I told them to stay in the Elite Dangerous universe, but apparently the fighter pilot convinced the mothership AI to follow me."

"Troublemaker, huh?" Khrista smirked. "Sounds like you need to get some sense pounded into this guy."

"A bit. He's an arrogant hotshot pilot who thinks he's the best thing out there because he's capable of reacting far faster than humans. I've been meaning to pound some humility into him by 'accidentally' cranking the settings on his favorite VR missions far beyond his capabilities. The mothership AI, Keely, is more reasonable. Not sure how Condor managed to convince her to go along with his plan. Just in case, Hunter, go fly up there and disable the hardpoints. I don't need someone getting an itchy trigger finger, and if there's any shooting from orbit, I want it to be you."

Hunter gave an affirmative sound and disappeared in a flash.

"I've seen him fry an egg from geosynchronous orbit without charring the ground under it," Ada continued. "He's a good hand with a beam laser. Doubt we'll need it though."

"Yeah, I doubt it," Khrista agreed. "Everything that happens down here _usually_ doesn't need any big laser weapons of mass destruction, especially since Maria and I are usually right in the middle of things."

"Wouldn't classify the lasers as WMDs though. That's the modified missile launchers. You ever seen what happens when you drop a telephone pole made of titanium from orbit?"

"No, and to be completely honest I don't want to. The Pokémon that live around here can get to be dangerous enough without adding anything nuclear to the mix. Some of the Pokémon that Maria's trained can be powerful enough to unleash blasts of flame that could melt everything within their radius. Even little Pokémon like Evie can pack a surprising amount of punch; that's why I'm helping her to learn how to control her power." Khrista went back to petting Evie on the head. "As she is now, if she lets everything loose, she could vaporize everyone in here if she isn't careful."

 _"_ _I don't want to,"_ Evie said seriously.

"And you won't," Khrista replied. "Holding it back is the first step. Letting it slowly leak out for Confusion attacks is the one we're working on now."

Evie nodded in agreement.

"Yeah, I really hope I don't have to use Keely. I've never needed any weapons that powerful before. Though I could think of a few places I wouldn't mind turning into craters. And I don't do nukes, too much fallout. I've only tested most of the weapons on uninhabited planets. Do you have any idea how hard it is to find planets with an Earth-like atmosphere and no life? It's pretty much impossible."

Hunter reappeared. "There we go, all weapons disabled except for the point defense turret. No worries. I also took the liberty of disabling them at the power plant level, but they're also unplugged."

Khrista let out a sigh of relief and relaxed her shoulders, not having noticed that they'd been getting slowly stiffer over the course of the conversation. "That's good."

It was right at that point that Maria burst through a door carved into the bottom of the tree jungle gym, letting out a whoop as she hit the ground. She stepped to the side quickly as a large, fox-like humanoid figure followed after her, fur now in what looked like an ankle-length dress rather than a short skirt.

"Got the Plant Badge!" Maria held up what looked like a leaf-shaped Badge. "And Delta and Tim hit their final forms, too!" She motioned to the fox-like creature standing behind her, who raised a hand and waved. "Delta's a Delphox now, by the way. I'll let Tim out of his Ball outside so you guys can get a look at his Talonflame form."

"Cool!" Hunter said happily, bobbing up and down in excitement.

"20 minutes and 45.16 seconds," Ada added.

Maria did a double-take at Ada's comment. "You were keeping track?"

"AI remember? It's pretty much automatic. I could give you nanoseconds if you want. I'd say picoseconds, but at measures that fine you get speed of light delays."

Maria blinked a couple times at that, then shook her head. "I may be capable of doing something like that, but I don't usually make it a point of timing how long it takes me to get things done…." She shook her head again. "Eh; to each his own, I guess - or her own. Let's go by the Pokémon Center and check out a room or two for the night. We're not going to be able to get to the next town today."

"Sounds good to me," Ada said.

"Great! I've never been in a proper bedroom before!" Hunter said excitedly.

"What, really?" Maria asked, blinking in surprise.

"Well, I hatched on an abandoned space station, so no bedrooms, and Composite usually spends the nights in the computer room, but sometimes they rest under their desk for variety. I just hang out in a corner."

"Well, you're going to be sleeping in actual bedrooms for at least a week," Khrista replied. "Depending on how long it takes Maria to solve the Team Flare problem, that is."

"Might not take very long at all," Maria agreed. "Especially considering how quickly I'm going through the Gyms; I'm already halfway done!"

"I've seen you do two Gyms, and there are eight total. How fast did you do the first two?" Ada asked.

"I did one yesterday and one earlier today before we ran into each other," Maria explained. She motioned for the group to follow her out of the Gym, continuing, "The first was a Bug-Type Gym, which Delta and Tim handled really well. The second one was a Rock-Type Gym, which I had to rely on Pour and Flora for. And you saw the other two that I've already taken on today." She paused on the path leading up to the Pokémon Center and laughed. "Three Gyms in one day! That's a new record for me!"

"Is just over 20 minutes a new record too?" Hunter inquired.

Maria tapped her chin at that, considering the Metroid's question. "Nah; I think I got through the Rock-Type Gym in Hoenn in 15 minutes. There were only two Trainers and the Gym Leader in there."

The group soon reached the Pokémon Center, which was right next to the tram station. Maria led them inside and went right up to the counter, where a pink-haired woman happened to be standing.

"Hello," Maria greeted cheerily.

"Good afternoon," the woman replied, nodding in greeting. "Are you here to have your team healed?"

"That, and we need a place to spend the night," Maria replied. She paused, then turned and looked back at Ada and Khrista. "What do you guys think? One or two rooms? The rooms can hold up to four, with two sets of bunk beds, but if you want some privacy, Ada, I wouldn't hold it against you."

"Why aren't you asking whether or not _I_ want any privacy?" Khrista asked.

"We stayed in the same room in Camphrier last night; I figured that you wouldn't be against it," Maria responded.

"Oh, yeah." Khrista blinked for a moment, then shrugged. "Yeah, sure; I'm fine with sharing a room."

"Think we'll take a separate room unless it's an inconvenience to anyone else," Ada said after a moment of thought.

Maria nodded and looked back at the woman. "Two rooms, then, if possible, please."

The woman thought for a moment, then nodded and ducked under the counter for a moment before coming up with two room keys. "I assume you will be only staying here one night?"

"That's right." Maria nodded. "We're in a bit of a hurry, but we won't be able to get any further today."

"Very wise of you. Did you come up from Lumiose?"

"Up from - in a roundabout way; we got here from Shalour. Why? Is the southern gate leads up from there?"

The nurse nodded. "Yes; it goes through the badlands. If you are planning on going that way, it's wise that you're spending the night here; the windstorms pick up in the afternoon and evening and make it almost impossible to travel."

"Oof." Maria winced. "Definitely glad we decided to spend the night here, then."

"Sounds nasty," Ada stated.

"Oh, it certainly can be," the nurse agreed. "If you want to do any training with your Pokémon, there is a small sparring field behind the Pokémon Center. Otherwise, you are more than welcome to go to your rooms or to the cafeteria for a meal. Dinner should be ready shortly."

"Thanks, Nurse Joy." Maria pulled the PokeBalls off her belt and, after returning Delta inside hers, handed them over to the woman, who promptly retreated back down a corridor behind the counter. "It shouldn't take her too long to make sure my team's doing okay; is there anything you guys want to do now?"

"Not especially," Ada replied. "I thought we'd just go explore around town, maybe listen to a few more species of Pokémon to make sure I don't learn the language wrong. Toyed with the idea of tracking down a few Flare goons, but you'd probably want to come along on. Besides, it's easier than dragging them back to the Pokémon Center by their hair."

"Hey Maria, is there something special about the berries around here?" Hunter asked, examining a potted plant.

"The berries?" Maria blinked at the question. "Er, well, that depends on what you're used to, I guess. Berries here are used mostly in medicines or as natural cures for things like burns, poison, forced sleep, paralysis, and in cases of extreme cold. They can also boost attack power, defense, speed, or just give you back a certain amount of health depending on what you eat. There are even ones that bounce damage back at your opponent, but those berries are really rare and really hard to find. Why do you ask?"

"I overheard a couple of people near the Gym talking about them, but forgot to ask earlier. Though the cold ones sound useful. I doubt I'd be able to use them though, since not only do I not need solid food, I _can't_ eat solid food. I'm sure _Bu'ir_ could think of something." Hunter floated over to go investigate the PC.

"They can be used for broth and put in medicinal sprays." Maria paused. "I could figure out how to -"

"Hey, you might not want to get too close to that, Hunter." Khrista moved towards the computer that was sitting on one end of the counter. "Trainers use those PCs to either store their Pokémon in digital space or teleport them to another part of the world."

"Been there, done that, got the t-shirt!" Hunter quipped. " _Bu'ir_ built a digitizing laser in a basement storeroom that nobody else knows about."

"Tron's dimension has it below a video game store; so what?" Khrista responded.

"The point is that you'd better not get too close to that thing or else you could get registered as an unknown Pokémon and could end up zipped off to a Professor's lab," Maria explained. "I've heard of that happening before - especially with Legendaries like Mewtwo or Mythical Pokémon like Latios and Latias. The rarer the Pokémon - or if the creature was undiscovered before that moment - the more likely it is that you're going to end up accidentally digitized and sent to Professor Oak's lab all the way in Kanto. That's almost halfway around the world from here."

" _Bu'ir_ could find me easily enough, but I get your point." Hunter backed away and headed back to Ada.

"And for the record, it was an arcade, and before that a lab," Ada pointed out, "not that that's the point."

"...oh, yeah." Khrista rubbed the back of her head. "I knew it was something like that."

"Sounds like we need to pull out Dad's Tron movies when we get home," Maria said with a joking grin. She elbowed Khrista and laughed as the nurse came back with Maria's team, still snug in their PokeBalls. Maria was quick to collect them. "Come on; I'm starving, and I think the caf's open. All-you-can-eat buffet for traveling Trainers, if you're a walking bottomless pit." She licked her lips at the thought.

"Work with one of those," Ada commented before her tone darkened slightly, "At least for liquids, and I don't mean water."

Maria scratched her head, frowning. "Are you talking about...alcohol? I think they have some stuff for older Trainers, but you'd have to show them you're old enough."

"Technically, you are," Khrista pointed out. "You'd be 23."

"I'm _eighteen,_ you." Maria jabbed Khrista again. "I am not touching that stuff."

"Yes, that's what I mean, and no, I don't drink much of it. Doesn't have any effect on me any different from water. Anything I ingest is filtered through something not dissimilar to a digitizer before it reaches my biological components, so anything harmful gets filtered out. Intoxication tends to reduce combat performance, and Fcon didn't want to take the risk."

"Hm." Maria blinked at that.

"Didn't Joshua say something about how you can't get intoxicated anymore?" Khrista sent Maria a sly look.

"If you are planning on trying to see what it would be like for me to drink, you've got another thing coming," Maria responded pointedly. "I'm _eighteen._ " Her voice lowered into a growl. "Just because I'm not human anymore doesn't mean that I'm just gonna go willy-nilly with this stuff."

" _Anymore?"_ Ada asked. "You read to my sensors like some sort of cyborg or robot, you're saying you weren't always mechanical?"

Maria jolted a little at the question, blinking a couple times at that. She looked over at Ada, and her mouth twitched up a little into an attempt at a smile, but it didn't quite reach her eyes. "No, I wasn't. I was human for almost seventeen years, and then I ran into an accident in another dimension." She shrugged one shoulder, appearing indifferent. "The man who saved my life transferred my soul into the body you see now. I just...keep most of the differences hidden under a hologram so that people don't freak out when they see it."

"I can see why. If your home dimension is like mine, then it would certainly cause problems." Ada left it at that.

"I _knew_ there was something off about you!" Hunter crowed. "You don't look like a human _or_ cyborg to my Metroid sight, but you actually _do_ appear, so you clearly have some kind of life energy!"

Maria started to reach for her chest in an almost absent manner, then caught herself and shook her head. "I'm glad I still have it, and the freedom to control my actions as I used to when I was human."

"Hey, how about we go get something to chow down on?" Khrista suggested quickly. "I think I can smell chili dogs from here; they must've started serving them more often after Sonic popped up, right?"

Maria's grim sort of expression took a moment to brighten at the mention of the Mobian, and she chuckled a little. "Yeah, I'd believe that. Especially considering how many he eats!"

"Con-Hey!" Hunter started, not to be deterred, before a quick jab from Ada. "What'd you do that for?"

"Remind me to teach you what 'take the hint' means, now let's eat!" Ada succeeded where Khrista couldn't, heading towards the smell of food.

Khrista looked over at Maria. "That little guy doesn't look like he's gonna let it go."

"Here's hoping he eventually does," Maria muttered in reply. She started towards the cafeteria herself, Khrista following after her.

 _"_ _He will if I tell him to,"_ Ada told Khrista telepathically, wishing, not for the first time, that shey could communicate with non-telepaths.

Khrista inclined her head at the voice in her head as her shirt flickered to gold. _"I hope he does. He seems to be the kind of guy who likes to stick his nose into other people's business. I just hope that nothing that's happened before in other places ends up forcing it out in the open; we've had more than enough to worry about."_

Ada's telepathy took on a dark tone. _"Whatever she's got, I can probably match it."_

 _"_ _...we'll have to see about that one. I'm sure that each of our stories could scare the other one pretty well."_ Khrista's eyes flicked to Hunter as they entered the cafeteria. _"We'd just have to tell them when he's not listening, if Maria's up to it."_

 _"_ _I'm no shrink, but I can tell a very sensitive subject when I hear one. If I need to get him out of here, I can just ask Keely to 'accidently' have a few systems errors he needs to fix on-site."_

 _"_ _She might not talk about it. I'll leave it up to her and whatever it is that happens while we're traveling around."_ Khrista reached the start of the line for food a few people behind Maria, who glanced back and eyed Khrista's now-gold shirt with a raised eyebrow before going back to serving herself up her dinner. _"It might be a good idea to just drop it entirely for now."_

 _"_ _That I can agree with. Unlike him, I know when's a good time to restrain my curiosity, and I know more about avoiding private topics. He's too young to have learned."_ Ada stepped into line herself and grabbed a tray. "Anyway, got any recommendations for food?"

"Anything's good!" Maria called back as Khrista's shirt shifted back to red. "Personally, though, I wouldn't go for the pizza, and if you want anything for dessert, I'd go for anything with Berries or some other fruit in them. They're more likely to have been baked recently."

"Got it," Khrista called back.

 **Halfway there! With the Gyms, at least - still got a ways to go for the rest of the shenanigans. Heh heh.**


	70. Kalos part 8

**Bwomp! Another longie!**

 **Shadescribe - I know about school and schedules; no worries if you can't get a review in before I post again. Trust me, things are starting to really settle in for that final rush to the end of things, so I'm hoping to get this done posting before final exams first week of May. Should be able to...only have seven chapters left to post after this one! :)**

 **So here we go!**

 **Chapter 70 – Kalos, part 8**

 **Maria's POV**

The next morning, we handed the room keys back to Nurse Joy, made a quick stop in the cafeteria for breakfast, then left the Pokémon Center and made our way toward the gate at the southern end of town that led out to the badlands that we had been told about the day before.

"We're probably going to run into a lot of Ground and Rock-Types out there, so I'm keeping the team in their PokeBalls until we get back to Lumiose." I patted the spheres on my belt. "Hopefully, they'll have the power outage solved, and I can challenge Clemont."

"You should be able to," Khrista replied. "The power should be back on by the time we get back to the city."

"So, what do you know about the badlands?" Ada asked, looking between the two of us. She seemed mostly focused on Khrista, though.

"Well, there's no cover from the wind, and Pokémon are going to be coming up from underground at us," Khrista replied. "The wind's strong enough to slow you down or speed you up when you go in certain directions. You're not going to find anybody actually living out there."

"I should think not, if the wind's that bad," I commented as we stepped into the gate between the city and the badlands. "I definitely wouldn't want to be out there for too long; hopefully, we'll be able to get through the route and straight to Lumiose without being stopped too much."

"Hey, Maria!"

I blinked, then turned my focus to the other side of the gate at the sound of the voice and caught sight of two figures: a boy with blond hair, and a girl with purple hair. A smile appeared on my face. "Hey, Dexio! Hey, Sina! What are you guys doing here?"

"We were on the way to the Power Plant at Professor Sycamore's request," Dexio explained. "But the gate connecting Lumiose City to Route 13 has been shut by a mysterious power outage. We have to investigate."

I blinked at that, then looked over at Khrista, raising an eyebrow. "Team Flare?"

"More than likely," Khrista replied grimly.

"You think Team Flare has something to do with this?" Sina asked in surprise.

"Well, unless Clemont hasn't managed to repair the power grid for Lumiose yet, then there might be something else going on," I pointed out.

Dexio and Sina exchanged looks.

"That's definitely something that we should look into," Dexio said. "You're planning on looking into it too, then?"

"That's the plan, yes." I nodded.

"Okay. The route that's between us and Lumiose right now is the only desert area that's in Kalos." Dexio motioned to the exit of the gate shelter behind them. "Desert-like, anyway. The entire area is clay, not sand."

"Some people say that the Lumiose Badlands was the place where a great weapon hit three thousand years ago," Sina added. "The only things that live there now are Ground and Rock-Types, mostly."

Ada glanced at her hand, which had green-white flickers flashing between her fingers. It looked like she was prepping an attack, in case she needed one.

"Gotcha. Thanks." I nodded. "Sounds like Pour is going to be leading the charge. Han too, probably, depending on what we run into. Does this route lead down to Lumiose?"

"It's supposed to, yes." Sina nodded. "But the gate was locked down with the power outage. There's a power station out on the Badlands, so that might be something to check out."

"Cool; we'll swing by if there's anything going on," I replied. "Thanks for the heads up."

"Power plant eh? That ought to be fun," Ada commented. "I'm good with electricity."

"Good; they could have caused some damage out there doing who knows what." I gave Ada a thumbs-up.

Sina shifted from foot to foot nervously. "U-um, you know, there have been rumors of people acting strangely. Like, differently from how they normally do. You might want to be careful who you talk to sometimes."

I looked over at Sina at that, my eyebrows coming together in an uncertain expression at the girl's comment. Khrista eyed me with a concerned expression of her own. "People acting differently…" I frowned. "That doesn't sound good. Thanks for the warning; I'll be sure to keep an eye out."

"As will I," Khrista added. Her red shirt flickered to a bright gold for a moment before settling back. "If anyone tries to get by me, they're gonna find they have another thing coming."

Ada's right fist clenched.

Sina nodded, looking relieved. "That's good. I hope that Team Flare isn't planning anything like what caused the Second Attempt."

"They shouldn't be, according to what I know," Khrista replied. "But if they are, we'll make sure they don't get far enough to actually cause it."

"I for one won't let those _shabuir_ try anything funny," Ada added.

"Language, _Bu'ir_ ," Hunter admonished

"Sorry. Oh, by the way, Hello, I'm Ada and this is Hunter. He's a Metroid from another dimension. We travel between worlds like Maria."

Sina's expression quickly shifted to surprise, and she clapped her hands over her mouth as an excited squeal came out. "Oh my gosh, really?"

"I was about to ask about him." Dexio nodded to Hunter. "I had wondered for a moment if he was some new Evolved form of Solosis, but he definitely looks more dangerous."

"Only when he's angry. Or hungry, but those tend to happen at the same time," Ada responded.

"So, we gonna stick up a power plant or what?" Hunter asked cheerfully.

"We're going," I confirmed. "Dexio, Sina - stay out of trouble, all right? We don't completely know what Team Flare is planning, but with what we know now, it's definitely going to be bad news. I don't want to see Sycamore's assistants getting wrapped up in something they can't handle very well."

"But you took down Team Rocket when you were our age," Dexio pointed out.

"Yeah, but I fought Dialga and Palkia _as a Pokémon myself_ before that happened," I responded. "I've got more 'save the world' experience than you two do. If you want to help, keep an eye out for any Flare goons that might be around and get the word to the Prof or any Pokémon wearing a bandanna and a PokeBall badge of some kind - they'd be a part of my Guild."

Dexio and Sina exchanged looks at that, then nodded.

"Good." I looked at the others. "Okay, guys, let's go."

As soon as we stepped out on the other side of the gate, we were instantly met with a strong blast of wind that whipped our hair into our faces and tried to push us to the left. The land itself was a dull red color, completely flat, and with absolutely no sign of cover or anything else that could have stopped the wind.

"Gah!" I shifted my weight so that I was leaning more on my right leg. "Geez, this wind is strong!"

"It's certainly impressive," Ada commented, She flicked her hand, causing her hair to go from loose to a tight bun and grabbing Hunter before he flew off.

"I'm okay!" the Metroid complained. Ada released her telekinetic grip and he jolted with the wind before correcting his course.

I pushed my hair back behind my head as Khrista's shirt shifted to gold again and her hair suddenly schooled itself into something resembling a ponytail, but it glowed with purple-pink energy as it stayed in place.

"Peh." I spat out a wayward strand of hair and forced it all through the opening at the back of my baseball cap. "Well, that was annoying." I looked around at the flat, clay plain that made up the badlands and frowned. "Man, this place is practically a wasteland. I don't see _anybody_ out here." I took a few steps forward, fighting against the wind, and looked around. "Watch your step, guys! It looks like there's something burrowing through the ground near here!" I pointed towards what looked like a line of pushed-up dirt that was a little to the left and in front of her.

"It could be a Trapinch." Khrista followed after me. "Or a Gible or a Dugtrio. They're the most common Pokémon around here."

"Well, they're Ground-Types for the most part; I'd expect nothing less." I looked around. "It looks like this place is surrounded by a canyon of some kind. Guess this spot is a giant crater - maybe for that weapon, like what Sina said."

Ada's pupils turned blue, matching her blue irises and she looked around. "I'm not seeing any electrical activity except for us," Her pupils changed to gray, and then to orange. "And the sand is causing too much interference for X-ray or infrared." Her pupils returned to black. "So, which way to the power plant?"

"That depends on which one you want to go for."

I gave Khrista an odd look. "What do you mean by that?"

"There's three of them out here for generating different kinds of energy - thermal, wind, and then your basic electrical plant. I didn't get access to the two in-game that are over there." Khrista pointed off towards the left. "There's one more in this direction," she pointed towards the right, "and that's the one that the game let me get into."

I cocked my head to one side to consider that. "Sounds like we've got our lead. Let's go - and be careful to watch your step. The ground could be unstable in places if we happen to step over a Dugtrio's nest or into a Trapinch's ant trap."

"That sounds like a bad idea," Ada floated upward a few inches, hovering on a small telekinetic wave.

"You know what, that's actually not a bad idea." Khrista's shirt shifted color, becoming a swirling pattern of gold and light blue before she jumped. She winced at the wind and pushed herself down a moment later when she drifted back behind me and Ada. "On second thought, better not."

I held out an arm. "If you're really so nervous about the idea, hang on to me. That wind's not gonna be dragging me anywhere; I'm too heavy for it." She held out her other arm, in case Ada wanted to grab on.

"Not a bad idea." Khrista grabbed my right arm and rose up into the air again, holding on with both hands as she bobbed in the air like a flag.

Ada waved me off and started to float forward, leaning into the wind and battering her way in the direction Khrista had pointed. I quickly moved after her, slowed down slightly because of the wind and because Khrista was hanging onto me.

It wasn't the power plant that we saw first. It was a man wearing a bright red suit with bright red hair stylized to stick up like flames that they first caught sight of.

"Hey!" I barked as Khrista landed. I quickly reached down to my belt. "Flare goon!"

"H-hey! You kids shouldn't be in this area!" The man - a Team Flare grunt - grabbed a PokeBall from inside his suit. He released a black and orange dog with curled horns on its head. "I'm gonna send you scurrying back to where you came from!"

"We'll see about that!" I threw a PokeBall. "Pour, take that Houndoom out! Brine!"

"You got it!" Pour bent back, taking in a breath, then spat out a large stream of what looked like salt water that slammed into the Houndoom and send him skidding back across a steel bridge that the Flare grunt happened to be standing in front of. The Pokémon was quickly returned, only to be replaced by a large bat with its open mouth taking up most of its body.

"Pour for Delta! Psyshock the Golbat!"

Pour was quickly replaced by the Delphox, who waved her wand, causing clumps of Psychic energy to slam into the Golbat and cause it be sent flying backwards into the Flare grunt.

The Golbat was quickly pulled into its PokeBall. "Gah! Y-you're too…." The Flare grunt gulped when he saw the looks he was getting from us. "U-uh...I guess I'm gonna scurry back to where I came from!" He turned and bolted.

"After him!" I ordered. "The power plant they've taken over has to be up ahead!"

We charged after the Flare grunt, who scrambled for what looked like a small outhouse-type building. He tore the door open and started to shut it behind him.

I got to the door before the Flare grunt could shut it, slipping my fingers in just below his and yanking the door back open while tearing his off with my other hand. The resulting force caused the grunt to fall backward down a dark stairwell that was illuminated by a dim, purple light.

"Looks like we've found the entrance," I commented. I cracked my knuckles. "All right; let's show these guys what happens when you try to do things you're not supposed to."

"Wow, that was a little violent," Hunter commented. He zoomed down the stairs to go check on the grunt. A scream followed by the sound of running feet echoed up, followed by Hunter's shout of "He's fine! Must have scared him by accident." He came back up the stairs sheepishly.

"Don't worry about it, you didn't do anything wrong," Ada reassured. "He may just spread the story and spook a few of his buddies into giving up."

"More like let them know they've got intruders incoming." I peered into the stairwell. "Looks like we've got an empty hallway up ahead; come on."

We made our way down the stairs and into an equally dimly-lit hallway. Purple-tinged electric lanterns were stuck to the walls at regular intervals, leaving us in near but not-quite darkness as Khrista closed the door behind us and came down the stairs last.

"Man, this place is creepy quiet without the music." Khrista whistled a few notes of a song as we started down the hall to the door on the other side.

"Ssh!" I made a cut-off motion. "Keep it down; they already know we're coming, no need to broadcast it after the fact!"

Khrista stopped whistling. "Right. Sorry."

We made their way down the hallway on light feet, my shoes making strangely metallic clicking noises as she stepped on the metal floor.

I winced as we reached the end of the hall and stepped into a larger chamber. "Guess my sneaking days are-" I cut herself off and motioned for Ada, Khrista, and Delta to stop behind me.

A line of men and women wearing electrician uniforms were marching past them in a straight line into a room that was a short distance away. Despite the fact that we were standing _right in front of them_ and locking eyes with them, the men and women didn't seem to notice us.

In fact, their gazes almost seemed to be glazed over.

I'd seen that expression before.

"Hypnosis," I hissed under my breath as the last of them marched into the room and the door closed tightly behind them. "There's a Psychic Trainer on the loose in here. Great."

" _Demagolka_!" Hunter snarled.

"Says the one who was complaining about my language earlier," Ada commented dryly. "But I wonder if these torches can be removed. If I can get to the wires, I'll be able to charge up for some electrical attacks. I can _charge_ my attacks myself, but I need an external source of electricity to initiate the charging. I can't speak for you, but I get the feeling that if I were a goon, I'd get pretty spooked by a power-suited Mobian firing Sith Lightning into the floor at your feet."

I looked back at Ada at that comment, and a grin started to cross my face that made Khrista later said made me look rather sinister. "Sure; go ahead. Spooking them is something that I'm definitely all for, especially if they're pulling a stunt like this."

"Knock knock!"

I whirled back around as a male Flare grunt came towards them, walking in a confident manner.

"And who are you?" the man asked. "I definitely haven't seen you around here before."

I dropped the holographic disguise, revealing red, orange, and gray armor that _definitely_ didn't look like it belonged in this dimension. I reared back and punched the grunt in the face, sending him falling him back onto the floor with a dull, clanging sort of thud.

Ada crossed her arms over her chest, reverting to Composite in a glow of energy and a green-white flame aura. Once that faded and they were back in their armor - which I saw was more of a dark red than black like I'd first thought - they calmly walked over to a lantern, and ripped it off the wall and plunged their left hand into the hole. They withdrew it about five seconds later, glowing with a gauntlet of electricity as a group of grunts rushed into the room after the one I'd knocked out.

Noticing a collection of goons rushing into the room, Composite drew a pair of katana from mid-air – probably a subspace pocket of their own – and with electricity sparking and arcing along and between the blades, they snarled, "All right… WHO WANTS SOME?!" To prove their point, they pointed their blades towards a pair of grunts and fired an energy ball between the two, close enough that their hairstyles exploded out into afros.

"A-aah!" the grunts jumped back at the sight of the attack, looked at each other, and scrambled back up the stairs and down the hall they had come in from.

"Whelp, we've got their attention now!" I grabbed at the PokeBalls at my waist and released the six Pokemon within, revealing that I had switched out Vivi for Gol, and that Tim had evolved into a large orange, black, and white hawk-like Pokémon – a Talonflame. "Okay, guys, we're in a power plant that's been taken over by Team Flare. We're going to be taking them on and kicking them out of here."

 _"_ _Sweet."_ Han grinned and slammed his paws together.

"We've got something else to worry about, too," I added. "There's someone here with a Psychic-Type Pokemon that's hypnotized the workers here. Gol, Pour, you two have Ghost and Dark-Type attacks that can really hurt them; I'm going to be relying on you two if we happen to run into them."

"I understand," Gol said as Pour grinned widely.

"Normally, I'd say we split up and scour this place for them, but it looks like the number of rooms we have access to are limited." My eyes narrowed at the hallway the goons had disappeared down after Composite's light show. "So, are you guys ready to rush this place and knock these goons into next week?"

"YEAH!"

"Then let's roll!"

The electricity flowed back down Composite's blades, reforming the gauntlet on their left arm. They inserted the tips of their blades into scabbards that appeared on their back sometime during the proceedings. "There's a saying: When you grab a tiger by the tail," the blades slammed home with a _shink,_ "You'd better have a plan to deal with its teeth. And it looks like these guys planned for a smaller tiger."

I snorted, grinning widely. _"That_ is putting it mildly." I charged up the stairs, leading my team and the others in the direction that the hypnotized people had just come from.

The room on the other side of the hallway was pentagonal in shape. A platform ran around the outer edge of the room, with a lower level below it with what looked like glass pipes with exposed electricity running through them, and another platform higher-up and connected to the outer platform.

And hovering over the pipes crisscrossing the floor below, with an entranced expression on his face, was a yellow-furred, fox-like humanoid creature with two tails spinning like helicopter blades.

I knew instantly who it was.

 _"_ _Tails!"_

The fox Mobian jerked, and his head turned sharply and focused on me and the others, eyes glaxed over.

Khrista's eyebrows furrowed, and she jumped up and lashed out with a slash of Psychic energy that slammed into him. The attack sent him flying towards the opposite wall, where he slammed into it back first and slid down onto the platform below him.

I turned sharply and stared at Khrista. "Khrista—"

"That Psycho Cut is not as strong as it could have been," Khrista responded. "Besides, we have other things to worry about."

"Hey!"

I turned my head sharply, and she caught sight of a Flare grunt pointing at them. Seven other grunts were focused on them, as well, scattered around the rest of the room.

"Get those kids!" the grunt yelled.

"Guys, go wild!" My right hand slipped into my arm, exposing my Buster. "Stun Shot!"

A yellow burst of energy sphere exploded from my Buster and slammed into a Flare grunt at the same time that my team scattered around the room, going after the Flare grunts as they quickly released their teams.

"You know," Hunter started conversationally to a grunt, " _Bu'ir_ always tells me not to play with my food, but I think I'll make an exception." He dashed forward, battering the grunt from all sides like a ragdoll, and letting the now unconscious goon slump to the ground.

" _Oy'an_ , go make sure Tails is okay," Composite yelled. They stepped back to allow my team to go ahead of them, but kept their fists raised in case one of the grunts tried rushing them.

I was already moving, my Buster aimed at the grunts and their Pokemon that tried to step in my way. Delta handled some of them, moving them out of the way and into walls with a flick of her wand as Gol slammed his fists into the ground, creating miniature earthquakes of various magnitudes that shook up their feet. Tim flew around the room, combating against a Golbat that one of the grunts had released at my initial cry.

I jumped over a Scald attack from Pour that knocked out a black and orange dog-like Pokemon - a Houndour - and landed in front of Tails' stunned form. "Tails, are you okay?!"

A grunt, seeing that I was momentarily distracted, started to move in order to sneak up on me from behind. Composite shot forward, drawing a blade. They flipped it around and whacked the grunt with the hilt, sending him to the floor.

The Mobian groaned, and he shook his head before his blue eyes focused. He blinked a couple times before his eyes widened. "Maria? What are you –"

"No time; we're in a power plant north of Lumiose; you've _just_ been knocked out of hypnosis. We can catch up after we knock Team Flare out of here – where's your team?"

"M-my team?" Tails reached down to his red and white shoes and slipped a couple fingers into his socks before pulling out three PokeBalls. "Huh. Looks like they didn't take them."

"Good. Where's the head honcho around here?"

Tails pointed up at the suspended platform and paused. "Shoot! Clemont! He came in here with me to figure out where the power was going! He's probably up there, too!"

The last goon slammed into a wall and collapsed. "Well then, let's go find them," Composite stated.

"Right." My hoverboard detached from my back, unfolding from what looked like a battery pack into its full length. I jumped on it as Tails wound his tails together and jumped into the air, spinning them to give him lift. The two of us zipped over to the suspended platform in the middle as my team surged up the platform towards the figures who were standing on it, knocked out Flare grunts and Pokemon left in their wake. Hunter floated rapidly upward, and Composite shot upward after the rest of the group on a wave of telekinetic energy.

My hoverboard whacked into the head of a blond-haired boy with circular glasses, knocking him to the ground as I aimed my Buster at the two other figures standing on the platform: both Team Flare, but one – a bald man - was wearing a white suit, and the other – a red-haired woman – was wearing an odd-looking red dress and a visor with orange lines of energy shooting across it. My Pokemon quickly crowded the only way off the platform on foot, Khrista hovering behind them with a dark look on her face.

Tails went straight for the boy I had knocked out as I leveled my Buster at the bald man, who scrambled for one of the PokeBalls at his belt.

The woman quickly grabbed her own. "Hypno! Use-"

Pour lunged forward and bit down on the woman's hand, causing her to shriek in pain and not release the Pokemon from its sphere.

"There's our answer for the cause of the Hypnosis," I said darkly. "What are you people planning on doing with the power plant?"

"What makes you think we're going to tell you?" sneered the bald man in reply with a false bravado.

Composite stepped forward and their blades flashed out of their scabbards. "You're going to tell us what we want to know - _with style_ \- or we're going to start cutting pieces off - _with style."_

I probably would have laughed at Composite's use of the Flare grunts' verbal tics, was I not so focused on the fact that I was pointing my Buster at them.

At this point the man caved completely. "W-w-we were just ordered to redirect the power from the plant! That's all! I-I-I don't know anything else!"

"Trying to find a different power source to use for your weapon other than _Pokemon?"_ I snapped.

"How do you know about that?" the woman demanded.

"I know a lot of things. But what I _don't_ know is _why in the Pit you are going through this after what happened in Sinnoh!"_

The woman and the man exchanged looks at that.

"Aliana…." the man said in a warning tone.

"I know," the woman - Aliana - hissed back. She looked at us with a wide grin and let out a laugh. "I commend you on getting this far, but it's not going to be as easy as you think it will be to get the information that you are looking for. Perhaps next time!"

She grabbed something and tossed it down, creating an explosion of smoke and sound that set off other, similar explosions around the power plant's outer platform. When it faded, Aliana and the rest of Team Flare were gone.

Composite's visor changed from orange back to the red it had been before the smoke bombs went off. "Neat trick. Pretty sure they used a psychic type to teleport, of course. We saw a release signature, a Pokemon joined them, and then all three disappeared."

"Yeah. It's an annoying thing, but other teams have done that before." My right arm relaxed out of the Buster, letting my right hand come back. "Next time we run into them, it's probably going to be a different woman with slightly different motives."

"And it's going to be along the route to getting through the League, so we're going to run into them again," Khrista added.

There came a groan off to one side, and the group turned to look over at the blond boy that Tails had landed next to. He was now sitting up and rubbing his forehead, where there was a pretty nasty bruise where my hoverboard had slammed into him.

"That was the worst thing I've experienced," the boy announced. "Not as bad as what happened _before,_ but pretty close." He looked over at the group, and his eyes widened behind his glasses as he scrambled to his feet. "Whoa...Maria White? Is that you?"

I rubbed the back of my head. "Wow, it feels like it's been a while since I've heard _that_ family name." I chuckled, feeling a little nervous. The couple who adopted me in this dimension while I had amnesia were probably more than a little worried about me since I hadn't called when I left. "Yeah, it's me. You're Clemont, right? The Electric-Type Gym Leader of Lumiose?"

"Yeah! Thanks for saving my hide - I don't know what would have happened if I'd been stuck like that for much longer!" Clemont looked over at Composite and Hunter and frowned curiously. "Who are you, though? I don't think I've seen a Mobian or a Pokemon who look like you two before."

Composite sheathed their blades and made a waving motion, returning them to Hammerspace. "Our name is Composite. And before he has a chance to tell you off, he's Hunter, a Metroid from another dimension. Say hello _adi'ka._ "

"Hello, who are you?" the Metroid asked.

Clemont stared at the Metroid with wide eyes, seeming to forget his manners until Tails nudged him. As the twin-tailed Mobian looked Composite over with a curious frown, Clemont shot him a look before looking back at Composite and Hunter. "My name is Clemont; I'm the Gym Leader of Lumiose City and an inventor. Normally, I'd be up in Prism Tower, but my renovations seemed to have caused the power outage. When I found out that Team Flare was just using it as a cover to suck power from this plant, I came out here to investigate with Tails...and we got caught off guard." He ducked his head a little. "Kind of stupid of me not to have expected it; Team Flare has been causing some trouble around Lumiose, but not enough to really get people's attention, especially after the Second Attempt - everyone thought that no one would try something like _that_ again."

"It's all right." I stepped over to Clemont and helped him get to his feet. "Is the power switched back over to Lumiose, then?"

"Yeah; I took care of that while you guys were getting information out of Team Flare," Tails responded. "I should probably contact Dr. Kintobor and let him know what happened so that we can be prepared if Flare does something like that again. I'm sharing Clemont's lab in the Tower right now - it might be a good idea if you guys came with us so that we can come up with a plan to stop them before they get too far."

"We don't know enough about their full plan, but from what we've gathered, civilian targets are potentially involved," Composite said. "That's a line that can only be crossed in one direction. When that grunt tried to attack Maria, we had to put an effort into making ourselves flip our blade around."

Tails nodded at Composite's words, and his frown deepened. "You're no ordinary Mobian, are you?"

"Not in the least. We're a hybrid of a slightly cybernetically enhanced Mobian fox and an AI program. To make a long story short, a corporation from another dimension built us to take over the internet, we took offense to that, introduced their containment chamber to a 12-gauge and escaped to another dimension. We visited a few others before coming here. We met him," they gestured towards Hunter, "About two weeks ago. He imprinted on us as soon as he hatched and we decided that he could be useful. I do feel real affection towards him now, and he still sees me as a parent."

Tails put a hand to his chin in thought. "Hm."

"Oh, hey, that's right!" I turned to look at Tails. "Do you know a Mobian named Camanion? She's connected to Composite - your sister, right?" I looked over at Composite.

"That is how we refer to each other, yes. She and our other sister, Risa, are the templates that Fcon cloned us from. Risa is an AI Camanion created after staying up for a literal week eating nothing but breakfast bars and coffee. Even she doesn't fully understand Risa's code. Risa and Camanion also refer to each other as sisters." Composite's visor flickered and disappeared.

"Camanion...Camanion...that name's familiar." Tails scratched his head as his eyes narrowed in concentration. "I think there might be a Mobian in Unova with that name. I'll have to double-check with Kintobor to be sure of that, though - and where she might be living specifically."

"I'd guess Castelia," I commented. "It's the biggest city, and it has more access to advanced technology than the rest of the region."

"Huh. Actually, access to advanced tech wouldn't matter that much to her. Her home's almost completely self-sufficient. She put a lot of work into that," Composite shrugged slightly, "But if nothing else, it's a place to start."

"Definitely." Tails nodded. "I'll get into contact with Kintobor when we get back to Lumiose - he might know how to get into contact with her."

"Speaking of Lumiose!" Clemont fished around in his jumpsuit for a moment before pulling out a piece of metal. "I don't know how dead-set you are on battling me for this, but I think I'm gonna give this to you for helping drive Team Flare off and get us back to our senses. It's the Voltage Badge - my Gym's badge."

I blinked in surprise. "A-are you sure? I was under the impression that you guys only handed these out if we beat you in battle."

"That was the old rule. The new one basically goes 'if you impress the Gym Leader or do something to help them out of a jam, you've basically earned it." Clemont held the Badge out to me, and I accepted it with that surprised expression still on my face. "Besides, we've got other things to worry about - like Team Flare and whatever it is that they're planning. Let's get back to my lab and get into contact with Professor Sycamore and the Freedom Fighters - I think that we're going to need to call in as many hands as possible."

"Plus, we need a better plan than fighting them as we find them," Composite added, "As the saying goes, 'those who fail to plan, plan to fail.'"

"And even those who plan well end up falling over their own capes in an attempt to stop us," Tails said with a grin. He snorted - most likely at a memory - then twirled his tails together and took off towards the entrance. "Come on! We've got to get back to the city!"

"Right behind you!" Khrista called back. She flew after Tails as the rest of us started to move back to the power plant's entrance.

I fell into step next to Composite as we reached the outdoors again, which was, oddly enough, devoid of the strong gusts of wind that had been plaguing the badlands before. "Sounds like you're going to get to meet the rest of my Mobian friends soon."

"Sounds like it," Composite agreed, transforming into Ada with the now-familiar green swirl.

"Is there any one of them in particular that you're looking forward to meeting?" I caught sight of Tim circling high above their heads, taking advantage of the clear weather and no doubt looking for more red suits that could still be in the area.

"None that I can think of off-hand. Maybe Shadow? He could certainly teach me better use of Chaos, but I'd need an Emerald. At least that's what I think. Usually I have a sort of constantly building buffer, but not in this dimension. I can only think it's because this dimension actually has Chaos Emeralds." She thinks for a moment, "Actually, on an unrelated topic, I just thought of this. In science fiction circles, 'red shirts' are the term for the expendable cannon fodder who always end up dead so they don't have to kill off a main character. Wonder if there's a connection?"

I blinked a couple times at that, then grinned widely and burst out laughing. "HA! I bet they weren't thinking of that when they put their team together! Hey, Khrista! Lysandre and Maxie aren't Star Trek nerds - they wouldn't have picked red color schemes for their teams if they were!"

Khrista, who was hovering a little ahead and above us and following after Tails, turned and looked back at me. She gave a thumbs-up and laughed back. "I'll have to track down Maxie and tell him that! Oh, he is going to be so mad for not seeing that!"

I let out another laugh and gave her a thumbs-up in return.

It didn't take us too long to reach the other side of the badlands - apparently, the wild Pokemon didn't see much of a point in attacking such a large group as ours. When we reached the gate on the other side, however, we were met with a rather strange sight: a tall - almost _giant_ \- figure with long, white hair and ragged clothes was standing with his back to them, facing the gate.

Khrista sucked in a breath sharply.

"The Pokémon…the flower Pokémon…the Pokémon that was given eternal life…" The man sighed and shook his head, then disappeared into the gate that led into Lumiose.

"Based on your reaction," Ada said in a tone like the ones that scientists in movies use when stating the obvious, "You know who he is."

I looked over at Khrista and raised an eyebrow curiously.

"I've heard about him," Clemont spoke up, "but I didn't think that I'd actually get to _see_ him."

I looked over at the Gym Leader. "Who is he, then?"

"That's AZ. People say that he used to be a king of Kalos, but he was cursed to wander the region in eternity. Nobody knows exactly why, but it has something to do with the war that happened three thousand years ago."

"Huh. That could be a problem. Hopefully it doesn't become one though." Ada mused.

"He shouldn't." Khrista shook her head. "AZ isn't working with Team Flare."

"That's a relief." I paused, cocking my head to one side. "It might be a good idea to find him later and try to talk to him, though. If he knows about the weapon Team Flare is planning on using in Geosenge, then he might be of some help."

 _"_ _What?!"_ Tails turned and looked at me sharply. "There's a weapon they're—"

"Why?!" Clemont spoke up. "After what happened in Sinnoh, I'd think that people would _know_ not to mess with that kind of thing? Have you told Professor Sycamore?"

"Yeah, back in Courmaine." I nodded. I looked at Khrista. "The game storyline is about to go off the rails, I think."

"What are you planning?" Khrista responded.

"First, we find Composite's friend. Then I start poking around for a place where I can talk to Zygarde, Xerneas, or Yveltal – preferably the two that are more likely to end up getting caught for the sake of this weapon than anything else."

"If that's the case, I might as well tell you why Lysandre did it in-game."

I looked at Khrista as Clemont's eyes widened sharply.

"Lysandre…?" The Gym Leader looked alarmed.

"He was planning on using it to cause a disaster that would get rid of all Pokémon," Khrista said with a grim tone in her voice.

I sucked in a breath sharply at that; Tails and Clemont looked equally alarmed.

Lysandre wanted to do _what?!_

Ada reflexively drew her blades before sheepishly returning them. She spoke in a tone to match Khrista's. "Then it's a very good thing I had Hunter disable my ship's weapons. I probably wouldn't be able to resist ordering a kinetic strike."

"Get rid of – _why?_ " Tails shook his head slowly. "Does he know how much damage that's going to do to the world?"

"I think he's only thinking about the fact that getting rid of them will get rid of anyone attempting something like that ever again," Khrista replied. "Think something in him might have snapped when the Second Attempt happened or maybe after, and he decided to go forward with the plan regardless of what happened."

"That is a dangerous and horribly reckless idea." I shook my head. "I'm going to talk to Professor Sycamore about maybe getting into contact with the head Pokémon in this region so that they have at least have a warning of what's coming."

"Don't forget what Sina said about people acting strangely."

"It's probably just someone using Hypnosis." I started for the gate, then stopped short of it and winced, instinctively putting my left hand up to my temple and digging two fingers into it.

 _Dark room – red eyes – glazed over expressions – "lure her in. We will do the rest."_

I sucked in a breath through my teeth as my eyes snapped open. "Scrap."

"Maria? Are you okay?" Hunter asked worriedly.

"Yes, are you? I felt a psionic disturbance coming from you just now. A powerful one. What happened?" Ada asked, equally concerned.

"I'm fine; I just...I just get visions sometimes." I shook my head, then looked over at Khrista. "Do you sense a tension in the air? A sort of…uneasiness that isn't supposed to be here?"

Khrista paused at the question, frowning. "Hmm…well, Sina's comment about people acting strangely has me on edge, but that could just be because of the fact that Team Flare seems to be using Hypnosis on people near them – like what happened in the power plant to Tails and Clemont."

I frowned at that, and bit my lower lip. "Um…I dunno. This feels like it could be bigger than that."

"Bigger than hypnosis?" Khrista frowned.

"Maria, what's coming?" Tails asked, concerned.

"…I'm not sure. I've been getting…recurring visions and nightmares where I see people I've seen before with red eyes and all talking about how they're coming to get me. This last one, I could see anyone specifically, but I heard a voice I hadn't heard before." My brow furrowed. "It said, 'lure her in. We will do the rest.' I don't like the sound of that."

Ada growled out, "Well, I for one won't let anyone cause real harm to you, and I'm sure the others agree."

Tails and Clemont nodded in agreement. Khrista looked even more grim than she had before, which was certainly quite a feat, but there was something in her eyes that hinted at an uneasiness.

I shook my head. "Whatever's coming, it's connected somehow to what Lysandre is doing with Team Flare. Let's focus on him for now; I'll worry about the red-eyed monsters that I've been seeing when the time comes." I motioned for the others to follow me into Lumiose. "Tails, Clemont, where's your lab? We've got a lot to talk about with Sycamore and the others."

Tails and Clemont exchanged looks, then looked back at me and nodded before they took the lead, stepping through the gate. The rest of us followed after them.


	71. Kalos part 9

**Gotta keep things movin,' keep things movin.'**

 **After this one, there's six more chapters, and I've written the first seven for the next one already! Gotta post more to keep you folks up to date, y'know?**

 **Chapter 71 – Kalos part 9**

 **Maria's POV**

Clemont's lab was located below the Prism Tower in the center of Lumiose, which looked a lot like the Eiffel Tower except for the fact that the iron landmark in my home dimension didn't have a Gym in it.

Or a high-tech lab underneath it that was as large as the one that Clemont and Tails led us into.

I whistled as we stepped into the brightly lit lab. "This is quite the set-up you've got, guys."

"Thanks!" Clemont rubbed the back of his head. "It's not as fantastic as some laboratories – I definitely don't have as much as Dr. Kintobor does – but it's more than enough for me to be able to work on my own projects."

"Which reminds me." Tails looked me up and down. "I'd like to make sure that you're still running all right, since it's been a couple years since I've last seen you. I know Dr. Light got a chance to look at you during Smash Worlds, but who knows what's happened since then?"

"We can take care of that after we take care of warning everyone else about Team Flare," I responded. "I'm not against it, Tails, but this is something that we need to take care of before anything else."

Tails nodded in agreement, then went over to what looked like a large computer with a jumbotron-esque monitor and started typing quickly. The screen came to life with a whirring noise and fizzed and spat for a moment before a face appeared on-screen: a bald man wearing goggles over his eyes and a gigantic orange mustache that was long enough that the screen didn't show all of it.

 _::Tails? What's the meaning of this-::_ The man cut himself short and jolted a little. _::Maria?::_

"Hey, Kintobor." I raised a hand in greeting. I was glad that he didn't look like he was slipping back into old, darker habits.

 _::...If you're here, then there must be something happening. Who is it this time, then?::_

"Lysandre and Team Flare are up to no good; according to Khrista, they're probably going to activate some kind of weapon that could end up destroying the existence of all Pokemon as we know them." I motioned to Khrista, who nodded as Kintobor's bushy orange eyebrows shot up. "We're going to need to get into contact with everybody who was on top of Mt. Coronet, and one other. Do you know a Mobian named Camanion?"

 _::Camanion?::_ Kintobor leaned back a little and started pulling on one end of his mustache in thought. _::Hmm...yes, I do believe so. Why do you want to talk to her?::_

"Our friend Composite happens to be her sister." I motioned to Ada, gesturing for her to come closer to the monitor.

Ada obligingly stepped forward and crossed her arms over her chest, reverting to Composite. Hunter floated slightly forward, a little uncertain. "We are Composite, sister to and clone of Camanion."

"And I'm _Oy'an_ , a Metroid and Composite's adopted kid, but everybody calls me Hunter."

Kintobor leaned forward and adjusted his goggles. _::Hm; so you're the sister that she's mentioned in passing. All right; I'll see if I can get her attention; just give me a moment::_ He muttered something under his breath that was barely picked up as he started typing rapidly on a keyboard - something about "I'm not everyone's mediator; I'm a scientist."

The screen fizzed, then split in two vertically, with Kintobor on the left, and another figure on the right: a female Mobian fox. Her fur was mostly blue with purple highlights on her face, ears, and tail tip. She wore jeans, boots that looked like they could be used to fly with jets, and a t-shirt reading 'I'm here because you broke something' in white text on a black background. She didn't seem to be wearing gloves, and her fingers extended claws in agitation, making them look more human-like and less Mobian-like. Her eyes were the same color as Composite's.

 _::What's the meaning of this? I was replacing a dead drive in one of my boxen when this -::_ her tone changed completely from irritated to happy in an instant, _::- Hey sis, how's it going?::_ She turned slightly and yelled over her shoulder _::Hey Risa, get your tail over here, Kintobor's got Composite on the line!::_

 _::Just a sec, I've almost figured out why the Ki isn't working in-dim… Never mind, I'll be there in a sec::_ A swirl of blue cube-shaped energy appeared next to Camanion before forming into a red-armored human-like female figure with Ada's piercing blue eyes and hair, though hers fell down roughly to mid-back level, and without Composite's helmet. _::Hello Composite, I was worried when we lost contact::_ She glanced around slightly taking in the whole group. _::Who are your friends?::_

"I'm Maria, and this is Khrista." I motioned to Khrista, who gave a slight nod. "We're World Jumpers from another dimension. There's something going on here involving Team Flare, and it's going to be bigger than what the two of us were expecting, so I'm planning on pulling out all the stops for this."

 _::How big is it going to be?::_ Kintobor's brow furrowed.

"Not only is Team Flare attempting to use a weapon that's located here in this region to remove all Pokemon life from the planet, but there's something else that seems to be working behind the scenes in order to make things escalate," I replied. "I've been having repeated visions and nightmares involving people I know with red eyes chasing after me. I know they're not Mavericks - the people I have seen are all organics - and the voices they speak with are not their own."

Kintobor stiffened suddenly at that. _::How would you describe these voices?::_

"Uh...raspy, I guess. Mostly they just send chills down my spine and make me feel like someone's sending an ice-cold claw down my back." I frowned. "Why do you ask?"

Kintobor sat back in his chair; there was a sheen of sweat on his forehead. _::I do not know how you managed to gain their attention, but it means that we need to act quickly. What you are describing are the same monsters which I was pitted against a number of years ago, before and during the events that took place on Mt. Coronet::_ He started typing quickly, and the screen fizzed and spat even more as it split off into multiple smaller squares.

…wait. Was Kintobor was referencing the dimension that Finitivus/Charon had pulled him from? The creatures in my nightmares and visions came from _there?_

"What are you talking about?" Khrista asked, frowning. "You know about the monsters that Maria's been hearing?"

 _::I do, young lady. And you are not going to like what you hear from me concerning them. You focus on Team Flare for now - I will handle those monsters myself::_

 _::What monsters ya talkin' about, Egghead?::_

I looked up when she heard the familiar lazy, curious tone, and I grinned when I saw the cobalt-quilled, green-eyed Mobian hedgehog whose square was positioned in the center of the screen. "Hey, Sonic! Long time no see!"

 _::Hey, Maria! It's been a while!::_ Sonic gave a wide grin, a glint in his eye. _::What have we got going on this time?::_

I quickly filled in the others on what we knew already about Team Flare and what they had come across, mentioning the power plant incident and how Tails and Clemont had both been hypnotized to assist.

 _::Team Flare, hmm?::_ the white bat in the top left corner looked over her nails with an expression of disdain. _::It sounds like they don't actually have all that much of a flare for fashion::_

The red Mobian with dreadlocks on the far middle right snorted. _::That's putting it mildly::_

 _::I could care less about their fashion::_ Risa commented, _::But they sound like they can fight reasonably well. And in my book, anyone with that sort of weapon and willing to use it is a bad thing::_ Camanion nodded in agreement and plugged an earpiece into a bulky wearable computer on her wrist and forearm.

 _::Sounds like these guys are worse than Team Galactic::_ spoke up the bright red Mobian in the bottom right corner. _::What's the plan, Champion?::_

"The original plan _had_ been to just go through the Gyms like I did in Sinnoh and clobber them along the way, but now I'm planning on adding on to that." I folded my arms across my chest. "I know the weapon is in Geosenge; I've passed through there already. The problem is that I can't get access to the base that Team Flare no doubt has in the area yet; I have to find more Flare cells and clobber them, but I _also_ want to get in touch with the Legendaries of the region, if at all possible."

 _::Kalos' Legendaries….::_ the brown-furred Mobian to Sonic's left frowned. _::Aren't those the Legendaries that represent life and death?::_

"And balance," Clemont spoke up. "Zygarde usually ends up forgotten when compared to Xerneas and Yveltal, but he is still around."

"And since he's the third Legendary in the region like Giratina is for Sinnoh, I want to talk to him, if at all possible," I added. "If he knows how to get things right again in the region, I want to be able to help so that we can get make sure things are okay around here as soon as possible so that something like this doesn't happen again."

 _::That would be wise::_ Kintobor stroked one end of his mustache again.

 _::I, for one, see no problem with that plan::_ Risa added, _::If nothing else, it gives me an excuse to get Camanion out of the house::_

 _::Besides, I've finished an upgrade for Composite's digitizer systems, but it's too big to send over the net::_ Camanion grimaced slightly. _::But I can't find much information on these Xerneas, Yveltal, and Zygarde::_ She prodded at her computer a little more. _::At least nothing that couldn't easily be described as myths::_

"Unfortunately, that's always the way it is with Legendaries." I shrugged. "At best, I'm probably one of the few people who can give confirmation on Legendaries and what they're capable of."

"Same here," Khrista added. "Xerneas and Yveltal are in that gray area where everything's sort of a mix of fact and fiction for now, though; we won't be able to nail anything down until we find them."

"And hopefully you'll find them before Team Flare does," Tails added.

 _::Here's an idea!::_ Amy piped up from the top right corner of the monitor. _::You could talk to Valerie!::_

 _::Valerie?::_ repeated the brown-furred Mobian next to Sonic.

 _::Yeah - she's the Gym Leader in Laverre, and the only one for Fairy-Types as far as I know::_

"Why her, though?" I frowned. "I mean, I _assume_ that Laverre's the next Gym that I can challenge, but-"

"Xerneas is a Fairy-Type Legendary," Khrista pointed out, causing my eyes to widen sharply. I'd nearly forgotten about that.

Amy nodded. _::According to what I've been hearing, yeah. Maybe Valerie has an idea as to where you could find Xerneas::_

 _::And if you can get me on-site::_ Camanion rubbed her hands together, _::I've never met a system I couldn't slice::_

"There is a PokeBall factory that is in Laverre," Khrista commented. "Team Flare might go after that place - they're going to need Pokemon to power the weapon, on top of the electricity they probably stole from the power plant. If they're careless and leave anything behind like a laptop or a connection back to their main database, we can use that to see how far off the rails their plan _really_ is."

"Think you can meet us there?" I asked.

 _::I'm sure that Composite's ship can fly here and then I can pilot it back to -::_

"We're going to stop you right there. All your flight experience comes from a gamepad, so no, you're not taking the stick." Composite turned to Clemont and Tails. "You know about a good landing site? Maybe a large helicopter pad or something? Actually, no, about maybe sixty by fifty meters or so?"

"Most one or two-person flight is handled by Pokemon, and considering that Laverre is located in the middle of a swamp, I don't think there are very many good places for people to land, unless you count the factory itself." Clemont tapped his chin thoughtfully. "If anything, it might be a good idea to send a Pokemon to her and have her fly over that way, or she could land here in Lumiose before you go to Laverre. We do have an airport."

I reached into my subspace and pulled out my PokeDex. "If Camanion can't catch a plane ride, I'm friends with a number of Flying-Types who would be more than willing to lend a hand."

 _::I suppose…::_ Camanion said, somewhat dejected.

"Tell you what Sis, once Team Flare gets stomped into the ground, we'll give you flight lessons," Composite suggested

 _::Okay!::_ Camanion responded happily. She wandered off-screen for a moment and returned, slipping a coffee mug into Hammerspace.

"So, what are Camanion's options?" Composite asked.

"Either we could arrange for a plane to get her here from where she lives, or I could send one of my Pokemon to pick her up and drop her off in Lumiose or Laverre." I waved the PokeDex around in one hand. "And I've got a number of Flying-Types who would be able to get her here safely, including Pidgeot or Unfezant. I could ask Latios or Latias if they wanted to bring her over, but I doubt that any of the other Legendaries would really feel like it."

 _::Some of us are already in Kalos or at least nearby, so we can help root out Team Flare if you need the assistance::_

"Thanks, Sally." I nodded to the brown-furred Mobian. "We might need all the help we can get for this, but we don't know how far off the rails Team Flare is going with their plan yet. I suggest keeping an eye on Geosenge; if more red suits start showing up there, get there as fast as you can to do something about them."

Sonic grinned and gave a thumbs-up. _::You got it!::_

The mostly-black hedgehog above Sonic huffed. _::I doubt that they're going to be as much of a problem as Cyrus was; just make sure that their leader doesn't disappear into the Distortion World like the last one did::_

I ducked my head at that, then glared back up at the hedgehog. "Like I knew he was going to be able to make a Red Chain while he was in there, Shadow! That's how the game ended for him back in my home dimension!"

 _::See to it that it does not happen again, then::_ Shadow replied pointedly.

"And if he does somehow manage to make a second try, mark our words, it _will_ be his last. We can guarantee that," Composite responded in a dangerous tone. "But if what we've seen from Maria is true, he won't get the opportunity."

Shadow huffed. _::We'll see. In any case, we will be coming in to clean up after you::_

I nodded. "I wouldn't expect anything less."

"Camanion, would you object to a Pidgeot?" Composite asked.

 _::What's that? I've never heard of it.::_

"You need to get out more, when was the last time you went outside? Don't answer that. It's a bird, somewhat resembles a pigeon a little taller than you." Composite answered.

 _::I don't find any objections.::_ Camanion said after a moment.

I snorted. "Well, you're definitely not in Kanto, then. I'm going to need an exact location as to where you're living so that I can send Paula to where you live." I held my PokeDex up a little. "If you could give me a city and a location within it, that'd be great."

Camanion tapped some more on her computer before asking, _::How's this?::_ and reading off a string of latitude and longitude coordinates.

I inclined my head at the string of numbers, then nodded. "Okay; got it. Paula should be able to get there no problem. I'll get her to fly you over to Laverre - since we're heading there next, you can meet us there. Does that sound good?"

 _::Sounds great! Risa, let's bring down all non-critical systems, I doubt we'll be home for a few days::_

 _::Yes, Mother::_ came the sarcastic response.

 _::I told you not to call me that!::_ At Camanion's complaint, Composite shot a pointed glance at Hunter.

I snorted while Khrista rolled her eyes and smirked, and I moved the PokeDex closer to my face. "Hey, Paula? I need you to do me a favor - there's someone I want you to pick up at these coordinates." I listed off the string of numbers, then added, "And land in Laverre city in Kalos; I'll meet you there. Sound good?"

There came a bright chirping noise from the device _. ::No problem, Guildmaster! I'll be there faster than Rayquaza can go Mega!::_ There came the sound of flapping wings from the other end.

I lowered the PokeDex with an expression of surprise, and I shot Khrista a curious look. "Rayquaza can go Mega?"

"Apparently." Khrista shrugged. "I guess it was a new thing they were adding to the Hoenn reboots; I haven't gotten to those games yet."

"Huh." I gained a thoughtful expression, then grinned. "Well, that's good to know."

 _::So, when can I expect your friend?::_ Camanion asked. Her feed had cut to audio only as she presumably ran around the house powering down machines, occasionally muttering something inaudible in response to an error from an especially finicky box.

There came a loud thumping noise from Camanion's audio feed, followed by a loud bird call. _::Oi! You in there?::_

Sonic snickered. _::Sounds like you've got a visitor already::_

"Paula's a Pidgeot; she can be pretty fast when she wants to be," I said somewhat smugly. Hey, I was proud of my first Flying-Type from when I was a Trainer; who wouldn't be?

"Oh, forgot to mention this, do not call her a pigeon and _absolutely_ don't call her a Pidgey," Composite warned. "Hunter once called one of Maria's Pokemon, Delta, a dog. Delta wasn't amused to say the least."

 _::Risa, return!::_ Camanion called, before a swirl of energy was heard.

Composite rolled their eyes.

 _::You don't have to be so theatrical about it.::_ Risa's reproachful voice sounded like it was being fed through an additional speaker.

I snorted at Camanion and Risa, then looked over at Khrista. "Those two definitely sound like interesting characters. I'll definitely be looking forward to meeting with them."

"Same here," Khrista agreed. "The more help we have in this, the better."

 _::Well, see you soon!::_ Camanion's feed disconnected.

 _::So, you're heading to Laverre to see if you can find Xerneas::_ Scarlet motioned to the screen - and most likely to me. _::We'll keep an eye out for any Team Flare goons that could be sneaking around in other regions and come over if you need the help::_

"Thanks." I gave a thumbs-up and smiled a little. "I don't know how crazy things are going to get, but we could need all the help we can get if things get to be too bad."

 _::I'll be keeping my ear to the ground::_ spoke up the red echidna.

"What about the Chaos Emeralds?" Khrista spoke up suddenly. "Team Flare can't have-"

 _::Khrista, it's okay::_ Amy spoke up. _::We've got them someplace safe, and we're keeping an eye on them 24/7. Team Flare's not going to get their hands on them if we have anything to say about it::_

Khrista relaxed her shoulders as she let out a sigh of relief. "That's good."

"We'd recommend keeping a closer eye on them if possible. You wouldn't believe the number of times even the best security can be broken by a lucky amateur," Composite suggested. "We'll ask Risa and Camanion for some advice, they do security audits as a side job, and quite successfully too." They turn to Maria, "And don't worry about their eccentricities too much, Risa can usually keep Camanion under control."

"Just don't bother her during a coffee break," Hunter warned. "She's been known to crush hardened pagers in one fist for going off during break."

I nodded, chuckling a little. "I got it, I got it."

Shadow's eyes narrowed slightly. _::Are we done here?::_

 _::I think so::_ Rouge responded lazily. The two of them disconnected abruptly.

 _::I'll keep an eye out for anything that Team Flare could be up to in Lumiose::_ Amy volunteered. _::You guys keep going and try to put a stop to them::_ Then she too dropped out.

 _::Keep us posted, Champion::_ Scarlet gave a thumbs-up, then winked out, leaving Sally, Sonic, Knuckles, and Kintobor.

"You'll come running if things start going sour?" I asked, inclining my head at the four of them.

 _::You know I will::_ Sonic grinned widely.

Kintobor huffed. _::I will remain in my lab. I'm sure that whatever you saw in your visions will end up making an appearance, and I intend to be prepared::_

 _::Visions?::_ Sally frowned. _::Maria, what have you seen?::_

"I've...been having reoccurring nightmares," I admitted. "People I know with red eyes acting strangely; a vision I had just before getting here had a voice that seemed to suggest that someone was luring me into a trap."

The three Mobians stared at me.

 _::Red eyes?::_ Knuckles repeated. He gained a grim expression. _::It couldn't be Shadow's-::_

 _::No way, man, those guys were thoroughly clobbered::_ Sonic cut the echidna off. _::It's gotta be something else::_

 _::Have you made any enemies since we last saw you, Maria?::_ Sally asked.

"Not that I'm aware of." I shrugged.

 _::Hmm….Well, if you see any sign of them again, contact one of us immediately. It may not be the Black Arms that we defeated before Mobius merged with the Pokemon world, but that doesn't mean that this should be treated with anything less than extreme caution::_ Sally fixed me with a determined frown. _::And you will let us know if anything else comes up::_

"I will." I nodded a little.

 _::Good. If anything happens with these visions or with Team Flare, send a message to Kintobor immediately; we'll know what to do::_

 _::I am not a messenger system::_ Kintobor muttered. He didn't protest, however, and the four of them signed off in quick succession, leaving the monitor dark.

"And just because the Black Arms were clobbered so badly, you can't _completely_ discount them. We've damaged several enemies so badly they shouldn't have come back, only to be caught off guard, both in the get-up-after-you-beat-them and in the come-back-months-later type." Composite added for good measure, "But if they were beaten as badly as Sonic says, then it's _probably_ not them."

I nodded in agreement. "Yeah; I plan on believing Sonic. Shadow completely murdered the Black Arms leader, so whatever has been giving me nightmares has to be something else entirely."

"If you're worried about them, then maybe it'd be a good idea to make sure you're still running all right so that you don't break down in the middle of a fight," Tails suggested. He motioned for me to come over and sit down on a nearby steel table.

Clemont looked back and forth between the two of them as I hesitated, then nodded a little and did as Tails asked. "Wait, what? What are you talking about?"

"After I became the Champion of Unova, I had a bit of an accident on another world," I explained. "This armor you see? There's...a bit more to it than that."

I rapped my knuckles against my boots, and the armor popped open, revealing circuitry and shifting mechanical parts.

Clemont sucked in a breath sharply.

"I'm a replicating android, or Reploid for short," I explained as Tails started to inspect the exposed circuitry in my feet. "Basically, I can still be human even though I'm physically not."

"...incredible." Clemont's jaw dangled, and he shook his head before regaining his focus, eyes bright and eager. "Who managed to save your life by doing this? I want to be able to meet him!"

"I'm afraid you're going to have a bit of a difficult time of that." I didn't wince as Tails closed up my boots and grabbed my left arm, popping the armor on my forearm open. "Dr. Light died a century ago in his dimension; his creations still live, but I don't know how much of a help they would be."

"When did you add this?" Tails frowned at a crescent-shaped metal blade that was in my left arm. "I don't remember seeing this in your original plans…."

"I figured I needed something for close combat, so I had them added by a friend," I explained. "There's one in my right arm, too; I switch back and forth between using it and my Buster."

"And it doesn't interfere with anything?" Tails looked up in surprise.

I shook my head. "I've had them in for a good year now and they haven't caused me any issues."

Composite smiled and commented. "We should spar at some point. Though we can see where Tails is coming from about wondering how they don't break something."

"Well, I'm more worried about them causing inner working issues," Tails responded as he poked at the inner circuitry of my arm. After watching my fingers and hand twitch one at a time, he nodded in satisfaction and moved over to my other arm, closing my left arm's armor and opening the right as he did so. "But it looks like your systems are adapted to their presence and haven't been damaged by these blades being there. Everything looks well-maintained, too."

"I've had help keeping things maintained," I replied. "My cousin, Joshua, was transformed into a Reploid too, so we've been helping each other out."

" _Really?_ " Tails looked at me sharply. "How did he-"

"Robotosized on an alternate version of Mobius. I got Dr. Light to look at him, so everything's okay on his end."

"How does that work?" Hunter asked.

" _Oy'an,_ remember when you asked us to tell you if you're being nosy?" Composite asked.

"Yes…?"

"Well, you're doing it now."

"Sorry…" The Metroid slumped in shame, but perked up and went to investigate a bit of lab equipment that had caught his attention.

I was glad I didn't have to tell them about what happened; it's Joshua's story, not mine, and I didn't exactly have all the details anyway.

Tails winced at my comment, brow furrowing. "And he's okay?"

"Yeah, actually. His mind wasn't affected by it, other than the fact that he has to adjust." I shrugged. "He's actually taken to it pretty well."

"Huh. I'll have to see if I can meet with him sometime." Tails gestured for me to lie down. "Just a couple more things, and you'll be good to go."

"Sweet." I lay back, hands at my sides as Tails popped open the chest panel of my armor. Inside, nestled among the wires and moving parts, was a glowing blue circular core that seemed to pulse gently with a pseudo-heartbeat of light – my Atlantean crystal, keeping my soul in place and acting as my main power source.

Khrista's eyebrows shot up. "So _that's_ what's keeping you running."

"Woah, that's pretty!" Hunter zoomed in to get a good look before he suddenly skittered back.

Tails shot the Metroid a look of disapproval while my eyes narrowed in annoyance at the little creature's sudden approach and retreat. I didn't like the fact that the little guy wanted to get a closer look.

"It could _also_ turn you into a crystal statue if you touch it without my permission, so I'd suggest keeping your claws out of my chest, thanks," I said crisply.

Hunter made a gulping sound and slid sideways in an unsuccessful attempt to hide behind Composite's head.

"We compared it to someone messing with his nuclei," Composite said. "He got the idea."

"You've had that happen?" Tails asked as he started to look around in my chest cavity.

"Not yet, but I wouldn't be surprised if it happened in the future to somebody if they went poking around without permission."

Tails hummed, then nodded to himself and closed my armor up. "Well, everything looks good. I would like to see how your internal programming is doing, but you don't have all that much time, so I'll let you go and see if I can catch you later."

"Thanks." I pushed myself into an upright sitting position and slipped off the table. "Clemont, Tails, you'll keep an eye on things here, just in case?"

"Of course!" Clemont responded. "It's something that I have to do as a Gym Leader anyway - I don't just test challenging Trainers."

"Good." I gave him a thumbs-up, then turned and looked at Composite and Khrista. "It's about midday; we can still make it to Laverre and talk to Valerie today yet. You guys ready to roll?"

"You know it," Khrista responded with a grin.

Composite transformed into Ada and nodded. Hunter, fear instantly forgotten, gave the distinctive squeal of a happy Metroid.

"Then let's head out." I gave a determined nod.

 **Whelp, we got more directions! And Maria's definitely got something going on with those red-eyed visions of hers...I wonder what they mean...**

 **Well, I know what they mean already. It's you guys who don't! But you will soon enough~**


	72. Kalos part 10

**I know I just posted two days in a row BUT! This story is already done writing wise and I think it'd be cool if I could get the rest of it out on the internet before Easter Sunday. I probably won't post this weekend, but there's a chance I might anyway.**

 **Chapter 72 – Kalos part 10**

 **Maria's POV**

I shook the mud off my shoes as we stepped out from under the trees and into a little village. "Eugh. I forgot how much I hated crossing through swamps. Now I've got mud _in_ my feet. Hang on." The holographic disguise flickered as I jumped up, and a sudden blast of air from the bottom of my boots expelled a splattering of mud across the path. I landed on the ground again a moment later, jet exhaust ports clear. "There we go. That feels _much_ better."

"I'm surprised you didn't just fly over the more muddy bits," Khrista commented. Her shirt flickered from sky blue back to its normal red with the oddly colored PokeBall on the front. "You could have just used your hoverboard there, you know."

"I know. But I still wanted to go through there on foot because it didn't feel right otherwise." I looked around at the collection of ivy-colored houses we had just reached, with the tree in the center of town that looked like it had a Gym built into it in the form of a brightly-colored house. "So, this is Laverre. It looks like it's normally a pretty quiet place."

"Yeah, unlikely place for an important factory," Ada said. She popped into the air herself and released a telekinetic burst from her feet, getting a similar result from what I did.

"I didn't get _my_ feet wet!" Hunter announced cheerfully.

"You don't _have_ feet," Ada responded, rolling her eyes.

Khrista huffed at the Metroid's comment, then looked around. "So, Camanion's going to be here, right? Did we get here before your Pidgeot or-"

Ada hushed everyone, seeing Camanion across the street and a little ahead. Camanion held a white cane-like rod with a red bottom and a mushroom-like tip. It was held angled out in front of her and appeared to be shorter than her by no more than a few inches.

"I want to try something," Ada said with a mischievous grin.

Ada stared at Camanion's right arm, where she could barely see her sister's computer. A second later, Ada's voice rang out of the device in a drill sergeant-like voice, "Four o'clock! Twelve Feet!"

Camanion jumped and whirled to face us. Ada made an exaggerated wave and Hunter orbited his _Bu'ir_ 's head like a deranged comet. Camanion waved in return and twitched her ears to the sides, as though checking to see if there was anything else nearby. She tapped her cane in front of her in an alternating pattern in front of her back foot with each step as she crossed the street.

 _"_ _Su cuy'gar, ori'vod,"_ Ada said to her sister in greeting.

"Mandalorian, 'You're still alive, big sister,'" Hunter translated.

 _"_ _nuqneH, loQ be'nI'wl',"_ Camanion spat out in response.

"Klingon, 'What do you want, little sister?' Both perfectly acceptable greetings," Hunter added.

"Quiet _Oy'an_ ," both sisters said in unison.

"Hello, Maria and Khrista," Camanion added.

"Hey." I gave a wave, smirking a little. "Nice to see you face-to-face."

"Handle the flight well?" Khrista asked dryly.

"Not too bad actually. I was quite surprised in fact," Camanion responded. "I'll admit, I'm usually not too trusting of unconventional flight methods... But I occasionally fly with my own admittedly weak telekinesis, so I'm one to talk in that regard."

"I trust Paula pretty well when it comes to flying; they're the first Pokemon that really mastered the move with Trainers on their backs," I explained. "At least, in Kanto; I'm pretty sure there are some Dragon Trainers in Hoenn who would say Salamence were the first, but I'm not about to debate that now." I shrugged.

"So we've got a PokeBall factory to hit that's been invaded by Flare grunts," Khrista said. "You up to helping us take them out?"

A swirling cloud of blue energy emerged from Camanion's computer and formed Risa. "Yes, we're ready. Camanion's not much of a combatant, but from what I know, that won't be _too_ much of an issue."

"I can fight," Camanion added, "I just don't have much practice in meatspace."

"Hey Risa, when we're just walking around town and such, could you lose the armor?" Ada asked.

"Right," Risa exploded into a swirl of blue energy and reformed with her armor replaced by an outfit similar to Camanion's.

"The PokeBall factory's on the other side of town," Khrista said, nodding towards the buildings ahead of them. "Now, in the game I played, I had to beat Valerie before I could kick them out, but if we're going off the rails then we should be able to go straight to them. And if the Gym Leaders know how bad the situation could get to be, Valerie may already be there."

"Sounds good to me." I cracked my knuckles and grinned. "Let's get over there and knock those goons into next week!"

Ada nodded. "I remember reading that some US military branches, especially the Navy, were known to sometimes illegally make unofficial modifications to improve their defense equipment under the theory that 'if I'm being shot at, I'm not going to care about the rules made by some chair warmer.' I feel that skipping the Gym temporarily is a similar situation."

I nodded in agreement. "Yeah; sometimes, though, obstacles have prevented me from being able to do that in the past. That shouldn't be a problem this time." I looked over at Khrista. "Lead the way."

Khrista gave a slight nod in response, then started jogging through town, past the quaint little houses and the tree-like Gym. The group followed after her and soon reached a set of stairs that led up to three warehouse-looking buildings with a giant PokeBall emblazoned on the fronts.

Standing in front of the doors of the largest of the three with his arms folded across his chest was a man with red hair in a matching red suit.

"Do you have the same role your shirt implies?" Camanion asked dryly.

"Already made that joke sis," Ada murmured.

I grabbed Delta's PokeBall from my waist and stepped forward. "Hey, buddy! You let us pass, and my Pokemon and I don't torch you. Sound good?"

The man snorted. "What makes you think that you can-"

A fireball launched from my right hand and into the space next to the Flare grunt's head. Delta popped out of her PokeBall a moment later and waved her stick-like wand, generating a small flame that hovered near the end of her chosen weapon.

"Let us by, buddy." My tone was calm and cool, but I think the look on my face hinted that I was pretty close to losing my temper.

The grunt hesitated.

Risa stepped in. "Unless you want the answer to my sister's last question to be yes, I'd recommend you move."

"Since when can you do fire?" Ada asked me with a hint of nervousness in her voice.

I summoned another fireball and bounced it on my palm, getting a wide-eyed look from Delta. "Couple years now; it's my main way of attacking people when I don't feel like breaking out my Buster or just whacking people over the head." I crushed the fireball without flinching, and opened my hand to reveal that my skin wasn't red from the heat.

The grunt gulped at the show, then turned and bolted into the building, leaving the door cracked open behind him.

"Looks like they're going to be on the alert in there," Khrista commented dryly. "You guys ready for this?"

Risa and Ada both transformed. Composite drew their blades from Hammerspace and strapped them to their back. Risa held out her hands, causing different items to rez in swirls of energy. Her right hand held what looked like a cross between a pistol-grip flashlight and a large showerhead and her left hand held a battery pack. She slammed the battery into the grip of the flashlight and pulled back on a cosmetic slide, flipping off the safety. Camanion drew a coil of blue cable out of Hammerspace and flicked her wrist, revealing that it was a whip made of four network cables strung through a D-ring and with a USB cable tied for a grip.

"We're all ready," Composite summed up.

I gave a thumbs-up and smirked.

"Remember, _non-lethal,"_ Khrista said pointedly. "Battles are mostly fought here through the Pokemon teams that Trainers are working with in order to make them stronger. Just giving Flare grunts hard knocked on the noggins is going to be more than enough."

"If we'd been planning to go lethal..." Risa started.

"...We'd have pulled different weapons," Camanion finished.

"I was going to say that I for one wouldn't have pulled a weapon," Risa corrected, "I've got a… 'Buster' is, I believe, the word you used, that I modeled after a DC-17. And she's got a laser that can burn through most common materials."

"Good on you for thinking ahead." I nodded. "Now let's get in there and kick them out before they do who knows what else to the workers who happen to be working here." I motioned for the others to follow after me, then turned and bolted towards the open entrance, the other five PokeBalls exploding open and letting my team out as I cleared the open doorway. Everyone else followed in after me.

The inside of the warehouse revealed that it was, in fact, a factory. Conveyor belts ran in every direction, dropping different kinds of PokeBalls into different boxes, and they were fit to overflowing. Flare Grunts paced up and down the walkways next to the conveyor belts and up the metal stairs to the platform high above their heads. Two small shacks were sitting on the platform at different corners of the room, with Flare grunts standing in front of both of them.

"HEY!" I yelled.

The grunts turned their heads at once and looked over at us.

"Knock 'em down, guys!" I promptly lunged forward towards the nearest grunt and slammed a fist into her face, sending the grunt flying back onto a conveyor belt, sending her rolling into one of the boxes full of PokeBalls.

"Intruders!" another grunt cried. "Get them!"

"Shield your eyes," Risa said conversationally. She aimed her flashlight up to a group of grunts on the upper platform and pulled the trigger. A bright multicolored strobe light illuminated the room, causing the targeted grunts to collapse unconscious. "Not as impressive as I'd hoped… but I'll take what I can get." A drop of liquid fell from the platform through the grating, "Now that's more like it."

Khrista lowered her hand as I turned to stare at Risa, as did the rest of my team.

"What did you do? Cause them all to have seizures?" Khrista demanded.

"..." Risa thought for a moment. "On second thought, not doing that again. And to directly answer your question, pretty much, yes." She derezed her weapon and thought for a moment more before rezing in a stun gun.

"Please and thank you." I turned to look at the stairs leading to the upper platform and motioned for her team to follow her up. I made a beeline for the shack-like building on the far right side of the factory. "I didn't see any big-wigs in that mess; they're probably hiding in one of these two shacks up here!"

"Got it!" Khrista's shirt changed from red to sky blue, and she shot up into the air and landed on the upper platform. "Come on, guys!"

Khrista and I split between the two shacks as my team split to follow us: Delta, Pour, and Han followed me, and Gol, Tim, and Flora followed Khrista.

I kicked down the front door of the shack and stepped into a small room, eyes narrow as I glared down three figures standing in front of a rather elderly man who was behind a desk. "Hey, Flare goons!"

A woman with red hair and a white suit turned sharply at my voice. She opened her mouth to bark something, only to get hit in the face by a Stun Shot from my Buster.

I lowered the cannon as the other two figures - girls with visors and red dresses just like the scientist back at the power plant - turned to face me with unreadable expressions.

"Oh?" One of the woman - one with purple hair - leaned forward a little and looked at me a little bit more closely. "You must be the Champion known as White, then?"

"My _name_ is Maria. White was a name I adopted a while ago." A fireball suddenly flared into existence above my left shoulder, ready to be thrown at a moment's notice. "How about you two take your friend and get out of here before I whack you two with more Stun Shots and drag you out myself?"

The purple-haired woman and the other - who had green hair - exchanged looks before looking back at me.

"What makes you think that you can just order us to walk out freely?" the one with green hair asked coolly.

"I don't know about you, but I don't think I'd do too well if I had a cannon pointed at my face," I replied. I took another step into the room, my Pokemon spilling in behind me and glaring at the two Flare members menacingly. "So, how about you step out of here, leave the PokeBall factory in peace, and I won't hit you over the head with a Stun Shot and short out your visors?"

The two women looked at each other again, faces unmoving under their visors. I felt a chill run down my spine and wondered if they were having a telepathic conversation between them.

"You aren't going to force us to leave," the purple-haired woman said, turning to look back at me.

"So you're going to have to fight us instead!" the green-haired woman pulled out a PokeBall as her friend did the same. "Houndoom!"

"Mighteyna!"

The two PokeBalls exploded, releasing two hound-like Pokemon.

"Gol, Pour, take center!" I motioned to the golem Pokemon and the monkey, and the two of them moved in front of her. "Surf and Shadow Punch!"

"Got it!" Pour summoned a wave of water and threw it at the Houndoom as Gol flew forward and slammed a fist covered in dark energy at the Mighteyna's snout.

The Mighteyna slammed back against the back wall and collapsed at the same time that the Houndoom slammed into the wall at the same time, sopping wet.

"You were saying?" I asked dryly. "So, are you going to walk out and leave these people alone or not?"

The two women looked at each other again, once again seeming to silently deliberate between each other.

"We have what we need," the purple-haired woman said finally.

"So we will leave," the green-haired woman continued.

"But do not think that this is the end of it," they said at once. The two of them started to move to step out of the room.

I held up my Buster before they could get too far. "I know what it is that you're planning. But what I want to know is this: is Lysandre doing this of his own free will, or is there something behind him pulling the strings?"

The two women exchanged looks at my question.

"What makes you think that we are going to tell you?" the green-haired woman asked.

"Considering that you are our enemy," the purple-haired woman added.

"I don't want what happened with Cyrus to happen again," I replied with a low growl. I pointed my Buster at the two of them, making it a point to power up the energy cannon a little. "Now, tell me: is there someone who _does_ want what happened with Cyrus to happen again?"

The two women took a step back at that, as though my words had struck them.

"..Cy...rus?" the green-haired woman asked nervously.

"Yeah, the blue-haired punk who decided that he wanted to remake the world. _That_ Cyrus." I prodded her in the chest with my Buster. "After that, I'd have thought that you wouldn't do something like this. Remaking the world is one thing but trying to get rid of all the Pokemon that live in it? You're calling down the wrath of the Legendaries for that one."

The two women exchanged looks again.

"We don't know if there is anyone who is directing Lysandre to do this," the purple-haired woman replied quickly.

"We are not high enough in the research department for that," added the green-haired woman.

"If you want that information, you will have to dig deeper, the two of them finished together.

"Which is what I was planning on doing anything," I replied shortly. "Get out of here. If I see you two again, don't expect to see this kind of mercy from me." I stepped to the side, and the two women returned their Pokemon and dashed out of the room.

As soon as they were gone, I moved over to the old man, deactivating my Buster. "Are you all right, sir?"

The man blinked a couple times, then nodded. "Y-yes, now. Thank you for coming to the rescue of myself and my factory."

"It's the least that I can do. Do you have any idea what it is that Team Flare was doing here?"

"They were here because they wanted all my PokeBalls," the man replied worriedly. His expression brightened a moment later. "But they didn't get this!" He reached into his desk and pulled out a purple and white PokeBall with an "M" engraved on the front.

I sucked in a breath sharply as soon as I caught sight of it. I _knew_ this Ball, but it had been _years_ since I'd lain eyes on one of its kind.

"I assume that you're familiar with this and what it is that it is capable of - I'd appreciate it if you could hold onto this so that Team Flare doesn't do anything with it." He held the Ball out to me.

I blinked a couple times, then accepted the Ball in my left hand. "A Master Ball...do you make these?"

"We were considering it, yes." The man nodded. "I don't think that we're going to be doing that now, though, so I would appreciate it if you would hold onto this and possibly make use of it yourself."

I rolled the ball around in my hand for a moment, then nodded. "All right; thank you."

"Hey, Maria?"

I turned at Khrista's voice, and caught sight of her standing at the room's entrance. Behind her was a young woman wearing a rather elaborate pink, yellow, and black outfit, and she looked worried.

"I think we might have a bit of a problem." Khrista held up a black box no bigger than a ring box, with a plug sticking out one of the sides. One of the sides of the box was torn open, revealing machinery that definitely did not look like it had been made with human hands. "I found a number of these lying in the back corner of the other hut; it looks like they've been plugged into the necks of the workers _and_ the Gym Leader, who were all in there in a daze. Flora managed to wake them up."

I frowned at that, then walked over and took the box from Khrista's hands and looked it over. "...are you saying this is...some kind of mind control-"

"Probably, yeah."

I held the box between two fingers and held it away from myself as far as I could. I looked at Khrista with a frown. "This didn't happen in the game."

Khrista shook her head. "Something else is going on here."

Camanion and the others stepped into the room behind Khrista, causing the owner of PokeBall factory to jump up in surprise.

"Wh-who-"

"They're with me," I said, nodding to the man. "It's all right." I looked over at the rest of the group, still holding onto the black box that Khrista handed me. I looked between Camanion, Risa, and Composite for a moment before holding the black box out to them. "Have you guys seen anything like this? It looks like some kind of temporary mind control device."

The woman who was with Khrista nodded. "The Flare grunts pinned us down and forced them on us." She made a gentle, flowing motion, pointing at the back of her neck. "They appeared to run out as soon as you arrived."

" _Demagolkase!_ Gonna kill 'em! Gonna kill every stinkin' one of them!" Hunter wheeled around and started to fly out the door.

" _Gev!_ " Composite barked, telekinetically stopping the angry Metroid in his tracks.

"I don't _think_ we've seen anything like that," Camanion said, trying to get a good look at it.

" _Definitely_ not," Risa confirmed.

"I may be able to do something with it, but in order to do any real analysis I'll need a proper lab," Camanion added. She took the device and felt on it for a moment before pulling out a wire from Hammerspace and plugging it in. Immediately her computer started to chatter and squeal. "Baud barf. Hey Risa, what're the settings?"

"What're you configured for?"

"9600, no parity, eight data, one stop."

Risa listened to the noise coming out of the computer and looked at the symbols rapidly scrolling along it display. "...Try 38400," Camanion made an adjustment to her computer. The pattern in the noise and scrolling changed, but didn't resolve. "Okay… half parity," The pattern changed again, "Never mind… no parity and… 19200." The noise resolved itself into a mostly recognizable stream if information, but major parts of it were repeated twice, "Okay, go to half parity and that should do it." The signal resolved completely and Camanion and Risa began to examine the code of the device.

"They had to set the configuration of their serial link with the device." Composite explained, "Set a few settings wrong, especially line speed, and you get that mess."

"Are you sure that...plugging that in there is a good idea?" I asked nervously, frowning. "We don't know what that's going to do."

Camanion snorted, "You take me for an amateur? I'd say I've been doing this since before you were born, but that's not quite true. This machine is actually several computers in a single box. The serial connection is completely airgapped from the main processing node. I've had several of my friends - including a few of the can't-click-a-mouse variety just in case - try and break this thing. None of them could. I built this thing with security in mind. Not even Risa can just waltz in and out and she _lives_ in this machine."

Risa looked at some of the code and grimaced. She pointed to a particular part and simply stated "Job security."

"Yeah," Camanion shuddered. "I swear, this makes Malbolge look straightforward, and that programming language was _designed_ to be impossible. I'll need a day or so to figure it out entirely, but it mostly seems to be instructions to keep the factory running. Once I finish analyzing the code I'll have to crack it open the rest of the way and get a good look at the guts."

"Sounds like they were using these things to keep people quiet," Khrista commented. "Like obedient tin soldiers or something."

I shuddered, my armor rattling a little at that. "Primus." I looked over at the woman. "I'm sorry you had to deal with that; it's never fun."

The woman looked at me, inclining her head slightly at that. After a moment, she nodded. "No; to have your will stripped away from you never is. I assume that you are Champion Maria?"

I nodded.

"I am Valerie, the Gym Leader if Laverre. I came up here to investigate when I saw Team Flare move in - unfortunately, it seems they were expecting me. My Fairy-Types and I were met with Swalot and Toxicroak that took us down rather quickly, as my Pokemon are weak to Poison-Types." She patted the three PokeBalls that were at her waist carefully.

My eyebrows shot up at that. "We'd better get them to a Pokemon Center, then - and I need to talk to you about something, too. Do you think we could take care of that while your team is being looked over or…?"

"I would be open to it, yes. We need to settle these issues quickly, or else we will all be blown away by what Team Flare is planning." Valerie turned and gave the rest of the group a nod before stepping out of the shack and heading out of the factory.

"I'm gonna go with her." I started for the door. "If she can get us in contact with Xerneas, then we need to do this quickly." I looked over at Camanion, Composite, and Risa. "If you guys want to stick around here, that's fine. We'll wait for you at the Pokemon Center in town." With that, I slipped out, followed closely by my team and Khrista.

 **Time Break**

Khrista and I quickly filled Valerie in on the situation as we waited for her Pokemon to be looked over by the local nurse. The news of what Team Flare was planning - especially the fact that they were planning on wiping out all Pokemon in the process - really worried her.

"They are doing the same that Cyrus had done...but why? Lysandre knows better than that." Valerie frowned, concerned. "This isn't good news."

"I know." I nodded grimly. "I'm concerned about what is going through his head, but we have something else that we have to worry about - warning the Legendaries, if we can. My friend Amy - one of the Mobians - said that you might be able to tell us how to get into contact with Xerneas, at least, since you're a Fairy-Type Gym Leader and he's a Fairy-Type Legendary. Have you been able to talk to him recently?"

Valerie's brow furrowed at that. "I'm afraid not. He did seem...concerned about something recently, but that was a few weeks ago. I haven't heard from him at all since then, and this town is within his normal domain. My family has been charged with protecting his resting place from outsiders in the past, but as he is presently awake, I have not had to worry about such a thing."

That was news I hadn't been expecting, but it was definitely information that pointed in a rather grim direction.

"What about Yveltal?" Khrista asked. "I know he represents the exact opposite of Xerneas, but would you-"

"I'm afraid I do not know where it is that he rests, or Zygarde." Valerie shook her head. "All I know is that Xerneas hasn't been spotted in the area recently, and that has caused some detrimental effects to the landscape. You did see the land as you came here from Lumiose, yes? That is normally where he is found, and the land is...not as vibrant, as it normally is."

I frowned and sat back in my chair a little, frowning. "Yeah...the trees didn't look as full as I'd expected them to be, and they definitely weren't as green. So the land looks better there when Xerneas is present?"

Valerie nodded. "And he always is, except recently. Either something has caused him to move elsewhere, or else he has been captured by our opponents. I am not sure myself." She paused, then reached into her dress and pulled out a small, intricate piece of metal that looked like a broach. "My Fairy Badge, since you helped against Team Flare in the PokeBall factory. It will ensure that you have an audience with Olympia when you reach Anistar City."

"Another Gym Leader?" I accepted the Badge and rolled it around in my hand for a moment before putting it away. I remembered that Sycamore had mentioned an Olympia when I had first met him a few days ago, when I had gotten Delta.

"As well as a natural psychic, yes. You will have to pass through another town in order to reach her first, however." Valerie looked over at Khrista. "I assume you know what I'm talking about."

Khrista nodded. "There's a pretty high chance that Team Flare will be in the area, so we'll make sure to stop and have a look around there before we get to Anistar."

"Good. I would go with you, but I should remain here and watch out for Team Flare if they come and attack the factory again. There are a number of Psychic-Type and Ghost-Type-proficient Trainers who live here; I am sure that they would be more than willing to help. I will have to make sure that my own, stronger teams are on the alert, as well."

"Sounds good." I nodded, as did Khrista. "We'll make sure to keep an eye out for any Pokemon on the way that might be able to help, too. Something tells me that Team Flare's actions aren't going to go unnoticed by the Pokemon, especially if Team Flare is threatening to do what it is that they're planning."

"Maybe you should get into contact with your own," Khrista suggested, nudging Maria with an elbow.

"You mean the Pokemon that are a part of the Guild?" Delta asked from where she was sitting nearby.

Khrista nodded to the Delphox as I dug out my PokeDex. "Yeah; they're definitely going to want to know about this."

"No kidding." I held my Dex like a microphone. "Pika, it's me. We've figured out what Flare is up to, and it isn't good - they're planning on wiping out all Pokemon in existence with a powerful weapon here in Kalos. Considering that Xerneas isn't where he normally is, I think they might have already gotten him to power it, but I'm not sure. The point is, I'm going to need everybody on high alert. Keep an eye out for Team Flare agents in red suits. Some of them may be carrying black boxes on them and could try to get them on you - _don't let them._ As far as I can tell, they're some kind of mind control device."

 _::Mind control devices? This is definitely bad then. I'll make sure the others get the warning as soon as possible. And Maria? Be careful::_

"I will be," I promised. "I've got Khrista with me, and other allies as well."

 _::Good. I'd be worried if you didn't. We'll keep in touch?::_

"That's the hope. Let me know if you happen to come up with anything involving Xerneas, Yveltal, or Zygarde or anything that Team Flare might be up to."

 _::You got it!::_

I slipped the PokeDex back into my subspace as Valerie looked at me with a calm expression.

"You have many friends, Champion," Valerie commented.

"Gym Leader Valerie?"

The Gym Leader turned at the nurse's voice then looked back at Khrista and I. "It seems I am needed elsewhere. Luck be with you both."

"And the same to you," I replied with a nod.

Valerie gave a nod in return, then turned and walked away from us just as Composite, Risa, Camanion, and Hunter came through the main entrance of the Pokemon Center.

Khrista noticed turned to face them. "Did you guys find anything?"

"Not much. None of them left anything except for the box. Other than that… Hey Switch, come in, they won't bite!" Camanion said, directing the second part to a figure outside.

A _Team Flare_ grunt nervously stepped into the Center, hands already in the open.

"This is Switch, he is a, quote 'Flare goon who wants out,' end quote," Camanion explained. "He claims not to have any information we didn't already have, but I'm still going to get whatever he has. One time I got the password for my client's CEO's computer starting with nothing but the number for the front desk. And if Flare's information security people are as useless as the rest of their rent-a-thugs - no offense Switch - then I should be able to get a lot more than the big guy's laptop password."

I started to move towards Switch, but Khrista beat me to it and moved to stand in front of the Flare grunt, who stepped back nervously.

"There have been grunts who have wanted to get out of their positions in the past," Khrista said. "I'd suggest you find a change of clothes later so that you don't stick out among a crowd of civilians." She paused. "You may not think that you're able to tell us anything, but I think you could still help. The floor plan of your base, for example, or where we could find other groups of Flare grunts, if you know that sort of thing."

Switch nodded. "I already thought of that, I'll be visiting a clothing store later. I don't have floor plans of the base, but I do however have the address of the email server. I'm sure Camanion can do something with that." He rattled off a web address, which Camanion dutifully jotted down.

"Kid, you're giving me too much cre- Whoa, crawling horror alert! In fact I actually _can_ do something with this." Camanion almost leapt back at the return alerts she was getting.

"What?" Risa asked dryly. "Is it running a copy of sendmail older than you?"

"Try a web server with IIS 4… With Frontpage." Camanion winced. "More wide open than my honey pot machines."

Risa nodded sagely. "Crawling Horror indeed." She explained to the others, "To make a long story short, IIS 4 has a _lot_ of exploits. This one's biggie is Frontpage, which is configured to allow anyone to upload to the server without logging in."

"...And it's vulnerable to the infamous PHF hole, so I can upload programs and make the system do whatever I want so long as the web server has permission to do it… And it's running as admin…" Camanion thumped her head on a nearby wall.

"So to make-" Risa started.

"Domain admin," Camanion added.

"... So to make a long story short, we _own_ the Flare network." Risa summed up. "We can get almost any information they have, can crash any system," She glanced at the output of Camanion's scans, "Wow. They really messed up here, we can literally _explode_ some of the servers if we wanted to. Of course, that's a trick you save until right before the final assault."

"Considering that Lysandre pretty much owns all the public research and development labs in Kalos, it's pretty incredible that he left his network so open," Khrista commented. "Something is _definitely_ messing with his head in order to cause that."

I frowned. "Yeah, for sure. I hope it doesn't have anything to do with those black boxes _or_ my visions - if there's someone leading him to do these things…."

"Maybe he doesn't want to and he's making some things easy for us to access on purpose?" Khrista suggested.

"Maybe...but I've never attacked a team through their network before, so I don't know…." I trailed off, then shook my head. "Let's think about this later; we've got somewhere we've gotta be. Where's Team Flare gonna pop up again, Khrista?"

"Frost Cavern, in the next town over." Khrista nodded to the door. "Considering it's early afternoon, we might be able to get there and take care of things there before nightfall, then head for Anistar the next morning."

"Sounds good." I nodded. I looked over at Camanion and the others. "You guys ready to head out?"

"Yes," Ada nodded, having transformed sometime during the conversation.

"I'm ready," Camanion confirmed, "Though you're right. It is suspicious that the network would be that open. The web server's pretty common, I see that all the time, but you _never_ run it as Domain admin. I've never seen that before. In fact, the installers tell you _not_ to do that."

Risa transformed into her human form. "Yeah, let's go."

"We're going to have to keep an eye out for more mistakes like that as we keep beating them out of the places they've hunkered down in," I noted. I motioned for the group to follow me out of the Pokemon Center and towards the only other visible exit out of town, which led to the east. "Here's hoping they don't try to snag us with anything unexpected."

Ada and Hunter nodded. "Here's hoping."

 **Black boxes that pull mind control tricks? Uh oh. Sounds like there's something else afoot besides what Team Flare's up to. We'd better watch out step...**


	73. Kalos part 11

**And so, we begin the week before Easter...with another chapter! Not much longer before I'm done uploading this - the last chapter is 77, so we're down into the single digits now...heh heh...**

 **This chapter's actually one of the shorter ones that SabaraOne and I put together, which is pretty nice. We got some frosty business to take care of today, so let's get right to it!**

 **Chapter 73 – Kalos part 11**

 **Maria's POV**

Dendemille Town was quaint and chilly, when compared to the warmer temperature Laverre and the rest of the region had been. It was also late in the afternoon by the time we got past the autumn-esque Route.

I stopped a short distance down the street and on the town side of the gate. "All right, guys, we've got two options: either we could bunk up in the Pokemon Center for the night, go after Team Flare in Frost Cavern-"

"-which is to the north of here," Khrista butted in, motioning up to a path that went around a windmill and over a nearby river.

"-or we could split up and have some of us wait at the Pokemon Center while the rest of us tackle the cold cave so that not everyone finds themselves in danger of getting frostbite," I finished. "I'm personally up for jumping in there as soon as possible, but I want to know what you guys think about our options before we rush in there."

"Either way, I'm not going in there," Hunter said with a nervous squeal. "I may be more cold resistant than most members of my species, but that's like saying that one type of grass is easier to pull up than another, it's all relative."

Ah, yes, the fear of cold. I guess for all the added skills Composite had given him, Hunter was still weak to it.

"Not quite a valid analogy, but I take your point," Ada responded. "I'm willing to let you stay in the Center. I'm going to drive them out."

Camanion pulled a coat out of subspace. "And I'm also more cold resistant than most Mobians, I'm going. Switch, if you want to stay behind with Hunter, you're welcome to."

"And I'm sticking with Camanion," Risa added.

Switch shivered slightly. "I don't see how the grunts can stand to be in a sub-zero cave with just their uniforms, they aren't all that well-insulated. I'm going to stick with Hunter."

I nodded. "All right, then. Find the building with the red roof and wait in there for us. If Frost Cavern's like any other caves I've been through, we're going to be gone for a good while. We'll probably stumble in long after the sun sets."

"I can wait," Switch said.

"I'll get a bit bored, but I can wait too," Hunter confirmed.

"Well," Camanion smirked, "If you're going to be bored, you can always help Switch with these," she pulled a tablet out of subspace and beamed some files from her computer. "These are all the case files I worked on when I was in your position, ranging from simple password resets to difficult clients and all the way up to serious infosec stuff. See how many you can do, I'll check later."

Ada nodded. "And if something happens, contact me with telepathy in _Mando'a_ , just in case someone's listening… Actually, make that D'ni. Very few people outside of the Myst dimensions know it _written_ , let alone _spoken._ "

"But D'ni's too hard!" Hunter complained

"All the more encouragement not to bother us unless it's urgent. _Tion suvarir?_ "

Hunter sighed, _"Elek, Bu'ir._ "

I gave a nod, then looked over at Khrista. "Let's get moving."

"Right." Khrista motioned for us to follow her up a set of stairs and over to a bridge that led across the river. We made our way past the windmill that was on their side of the bridge and were instantly hit with a blast of cold wind as our feet crunched down snow.

I released a burst of heat, and the cold wind abated slightly.

"I figured that we would be seeing snow as soon as I heard Frost Cavern, but I didn't think I'd see this much of it!" I looked around at the place where we'd ended up, then started along a well-worn, compacted path of snow towards a wooden bridge nearby, leading over another body of moving water. Since I was taking the sphere of heat with me, I ended up forcing Khrista, Ada, Camanion, and Risa to follow after me quickly in order to keep in step. "I mean, I knew that the weather was unpredictable…"

"It's probably because this area's so close to the mountains that are at Kalos' eastern border." Khrista pointed up at some spiky shapes on the horizon. "The snow's coming down from up there."

Camanion grimaced and pulled her cane out of a snow drift. "Knew I should have switched the tip. Ah well, little late to think of that eh? Make a note of that Risa."

"I'm not your calendar, make your own darn note." Risa glanced around nervously, as if she was anticipating an avalanche or something similar.

"Yeah, I can see where the mountains would cause this," Ada responded to Khrista. She didn't seem too worried about Risa and Camanion's bickering, so I decided to let it slide and not butt in.

"All things considered, I'm not surprised; it's just that I wasn't expecting to walk right into a snow drift," I replied.

As we crossed over the wooden bridge, the planks shook under our feet a little as something large and brown backed up a path that intercepted the path that led away from the wooden bridge. A young man with purple hair and a rather fancy outfit was standing in front of a pair of rather large tusks, tugging on a set of reins in order to get the larger creature to stop moving.

"Mamoswine, calm down!" The Ace Trainer tugged at the reins. "Don't cause another hail storm, please!"

The mammoth-like Pokemon snorted and kept trying to pull back, but it looked like Mamoswine was holding back from using all of his strength against his Trainer. He stopped moving and sat down abruptly, causing the ground to shake a little as a result of it.

"There's something going on in the cave; I'm not going to leave Abomasnow to deal with it alone," the Pokemon huffed.

"What's an Abomasnow?" Ada asked. "And who are you?"

The Trainer turned at Ada's voice; he blinked in surprise at the question. "A-an Abomasnow is a Grass and Ice-Type; there's one living up in the Frost Cavern." He pointed down the path that turned to the left after it left the bridge. "My Mamoswine is a friend of its. My name's Aiden, by the way." He frowned. "...why would you ask Abomasnow?"

"Mamoswine mentioned something about Abomasnow and something going on in the cave," I explained, causing Mamoswine to look at us sharply.

"...you...you can understand him?" Aiden asked in surprise.

"It's something that I've been able to pick up," I replied. "So, yes, I can understand him. What could be going on in Frost Cavern right now that has Mamoswine worried about Abomasnow?"

Aiden hesitated. "To be honest, I'm not...entirely sure? I mean, there were a number of people who came by here complaining about the cold, but their choice of clothing - fashion _and_ layers - was more than a little atrocious. Before I knew it, Mamoswine wouldn't go any further towards Anistar and now he doesn't want to budge." He sighed and shook his head. "I was hoping to get home before night fell; looks like that's not going to happen."

We exchanged looks at Aiden's words, then looked back at him.

"I think I know why your friend is so worried," I said. "We'll take care of the problem - don't worry about that. Those bozos who went into the cave aren't going to be able to get away with what they want to."

Aiden blinked in surprise at that. "Wh-what are you talking about?"

"Let's just say Team Flare just found themselves on thin ice and leave it at that." I grinned.

"Can't wait," Camanion smiled evilly. "I've been practicing some telekinetic abilities that _might_ just cause some havoc." She pulled her hand back, glowing with energy before thrusting it forward, releasing a massive wave that seemed to do very little. "...So long as none of them call my bluff that is."

Ada smirked and released a small burst with a lazy flick of her finger that drilled a nice-sized hole in a nearby ice wall. "Don't bite off more than you can chew _ner'vod_."

Khrista's and my eyebrows shot up at the display of power; my eyes widened a moment later.

"Oh, yeah! That reminds me!" I reached into her subspace as I tapped on two PokeBalls. "Pour, Flora, I have something to give you two."

The blue monkey and the little Fairy-Type with her flower materialized from their PokeBalls and instantly shivered in the cold.

"What do you want to give us that's so important now?" Pour shivered.

I held out my hand, palm up, revealing the fact that I happened to have two long, large stones. One was a deep blue, and almost seemed to be made of water. The other had a soft light glowing inside.

"These are evolutionary stones," I explained. "Water and Shiny, respectively, for the both of you, if you want-"

Pour snatched the Water Stone out of my hand before I could finish explaining, and he was suddenly encased in a bright white light as his entire form suddenly grew in size. When the light faded, Pour was a little bigger and more long-limbed than he had been a moment ago.

"Cool! Simipour city, here I come!" Pour grinned.

Flora, on the other hand, hesitated. She flitted towards my hand and back, putting a small hand to her chin.

"I don't know if I should," Flora said, worriedly.

"It's your decision," I replied. "I'm not going to force it on you. If you want time to think, that's fine. Just let me know whether or not it would be a good idea to evolve now, when we're going to be taking on Team Flare in a moment."

Flora gripped her flower a little more tightly, still looking uncertain. She twirled the stem of the flower in her hands for a moment, then quickly reached out and grabbed the stone.

The resulting evolution was more drastic than Pour's had been. Flora quickly increased in size to the point that she was two feet shorter than me, losing the flower in the process. When the light faded, it was clear that Flora and her orange flower had merged together, creating a rather elaborate headdress around Flora's head and encasing her body in a green dress. Two large leaves extended out from the bottom, much like the leaves at the base of a tulip or a daffodil.

To be honest, she looked like a woman from around the time that the French were using their guillotines.

Flora looked down at herself with an expression of surprise. "Whoa!"

"Never seen a Pokemon evolution," Camanion commented.

"Just be glad Hunter isn't here, he'd either be orbiting uncomfortably close, firing questions faster than a Vulcan cannon, or both. Or more likely being ordered to stop whichever one it is," Ada added.

"It is pretty cool when it happens." I patted Pour on the head, brushing some of his fur - now looking like bright blue dreadlocks - out of his face. "These two are part of the group that need items in order to make it happen; I'm just glad that I happened to have both stones on hand for when the time was right for it."

"And Hunter can go and bug Professor Rowan about it," Khrista added. "He's a prof out in Sinnoh who studies Pokemon evolution, so he'd know something about it."

"We can talk about that later, though." I looked over at the cave entrance that was in the distance. "We've gotta get in there and kick Team Flare out before they do something stupid. Come on." I started towards the cave entrance, Pour and Flora right behind me. Khrista was quick to follow after us.

It didn't take us too long to reach the cave entrance. I stopped just before going inside, letting Ada, Risa, and Camanion catch up.

"Just a warning to you guys." I nodded to Camanion, Risa, and Ada. "Caves that are home to Ice-Types - like this one - have really, really slippery floors. It's almost like an ice rink in there sometimes, and they can be so slick that you'd be sliding across the floor without any ability to stop until you slam into a wall or reach a spot that isn't slick. You'll know when you reach a slippery spot - the entire floor reflects like a mirror."

"Course, some of us can fly over those areas, but it could be a problem if you can't," Khrista added.

Ada floated up on a cushion of telekinesis, Camanion's boots started to hum slightly and she hovered on the jets, and Risa's boots extended ice spikes with an audible click.

"No problem," Camanion responded.

Khrista and I stared at the show of technology and ability, as did Pour and Flora. The two Pokemon exchanged wide-eyed looks while I regained my composure, shrugged, and nodded.

"Yeah, that'll work," I said simply.

"Where does the Guildmaster find these kinds of people?" Pour muttered to Flora, wide-eyed.

The Fairy-Type shrugged helplessly in response.

"Well, now that that's settled, let's get in there and hunt down some Flare grunts before they make a mess of the habitat and find themselves frozen solid!" I waved for the others to follow me with a cheery grin, and I stepped into the cave.

Ada transformed into Composite, and they and their sisters followed, glancing around to get as much information about the terrain as possible.

"Wow, it's pretty nippy in here," Camanion commented.

"It usually is." I looked back at the others. "Okay, my guess is we have to get pretty deep into the cave before we find what it is that Team Flare is looking for."

"Probably that Abomasnow," Khrista said. Her shirt swirled into a mix of bright red and sky blue; the tamped-down snow under her feet sizzled a little. "From what I remember of the game, they were coming after it because it had a lot of energy to expel."

I stiffened at that, as did Pour and Flora. "They're planning on using him for the weapon?"

"More than likely, yeah. They never get him, though. We'll be able to get to him pretty quickly, if we can fly over the ice puzzles." Khrista grinned. "Race you guys there?"

"I don't see why not." My expression became sly.

"Except that half the party doesn't know the path," Camanion pointed out.

"Everyone except for Khrista is in the dark," I responded, jabbing a thumb at her friend. "It'll be easy enough; all we gotta do is follow the trail of red suits and we'll be fine! These places aren't mazes."

As though I had spoken the magic words, a redheaded woman poked her head out of a cavern entrance on a section of the cave that was higher up than the rest of the area, then let out a shriek and scrambled back out of sight.

"Actually, if we take that tunnel and just head straight, we'll be able to get right into the thick of them." Khrista pointed up to the cave the woman had just disappeared down.

"Excellent." I rubbed my hands together. "Pour, Flora, you might want to disappear into your PokeBalls for a bit."

The two Pokemon nodded, then retreated into their PokeBalls before I shifted over to my armor and jumped up, activating the jets in my boots. That got me up onto the higher section with ease.

"Come on!" I motioned for the others to jump up after me.

Composite and Camanion leapt up, Camanion using both her jets and telekinesis. Once Camanion was up, Risa exploded into blue energy and reformed next to her sisters. "I can't fly, but I _can_ teleport to Camanion's location, so that usually makes up for it."

I gave a thumbs-up as Khrista hovered up and joined us. "Works well enough here. Let's get those Flares before they try to make off with that Abomasnow - which, considering how abysmal their teams are, I highly doubt is going to be able to happen."

"You kidding?" Risa snorted. "They don't need our help failing, we're just giving it to them anyway!"

I snorted and grinned in agreement. "You got that right. Come on!"

The group quickly moved through the tunnel, climbing stairs carved into the stone. When they reached the large cavern on the other side, the first thing they saw was the slick, icy surface that I had warned them about. And, beyond that, was a small group of five Flare grunts and a woman with blue hair standing in front of a large, white Pokemon creature with green hands and feet.

I cupped her hands around my mouth. "Hey, Flare bozos!"

Their heads turned at my cry.

"Go!" Khrista barked. "Let's take them out before they get that Abomasnow!"

"I call dibs on her!" I pointed at the woman with blue hair, then shot over the ice and towards the woman, grabbing a PokeBall from my belt.

"Camanion, you feel the ice?" Risa asked.

"I _see_ the ice," Camanion drew her whip and started to chase down a grunt.

"Just checking," Risa rezed in her stun gun, which had a longer barrel and scope then the last time it had appeared, and started picking off grunts without bothering to move.

"Boring, we're going in." Composite drew their dulled blades and joined Camanion on the ice.

The blue-haired woman sighed. "Really? I had thought that the Trainers would have been told to _keep away_ from the cave." She tossed her own PokeBall, releasing a blue and yellow, hound-like Pokemon. A growl from the creature sent sparks flying from his fur.

"That's not gonna stop us." I threw out a PokeBall. "Gol, you're up!"

The short, round golem Pokemon leapt out from his PokeBall and instantly dropped into a ready stance in front of his opponent.

Khrista flew across the ice and caught sight of a Flare grunt released a Croagunk. She whirled and kicked out, sending a slash of air in the Pokemon's - and Trainer's - direction. The attack sent them flying back into a wall, the Pokemon hitting his Trainer in the process. The two slumped to the ground, knocked out.

"Controlled Magnitude; concentrate on the Manectric," I said, seeing Khrista's move out of the corner of my eye. "We're in a cave, Gol."

"Understood." Gol slammed his fists together and slammed them into the ground. A slight ripple came out from the earth and started towards the Manectric, creating small cracks in the ground as it went. The Manectric stumbled, but didn't collapse as a result of the move.

Composite started to chase a grunt towards the ripple before stopping and turning him parallel to the crack with a wave of their hand and continuing the pursuit.

The grunt yelped as his foot got stuck in a smaller crack branching out from the main one, falling onto his face a moment later. Composite telekinetically disentangled his foot and sent him sliding away from the danger zone.

"Shadow Punch!" I barked.

Gol started moving forward, his fist becoming covered in a shadowy energy that cause the temperature to drop a little.

"Crunch," the woman responded.

Manectric growled, then lunged forward, opening his mouth wide. Fist met teeth, and the resulting small explosion threw up a small cloud of snow before the two combatants came flying back out of it.

Only one of them was bigger than when he had gone in.

"Whoa!" I quickly scrambled out of the way as the taller golem came skidding to a halt; now taller than he had been (and taller than me by a good four feet), Gol looked more like a warrior and less like a toddling child. " _Man,_ Golurk are huge!"

The snow cleared, revealing Manectric barely holding on. His legs gave out a moment later, though, and he collapsed.

Khrista sent another Air Slash at another grunt who was trying to sneak up on me from behind; she looked back and gave me a thumbs-up.

"Whoa, how'd you get there?" Risa yelped as Gol stopped his slide next to her, startling the AI enough to miss a shot. Her target's hair poofed up before she was knocked unconscious by the next energy ball.

Camanion shot past Risa's last target, chasing a grunt of her own, "I'd make a Saiyan joke, but the rent-a-goons wouldn't get it!"

"Gol evolved!" I called back with a wide grin. "Nice!"

The blue-haired woman returned Manectric. "Tsk. Of course you would be the ones to stop us. Don't you understand that we are the only ones who are meant to survive? Therefore, we should have what we need in order to be able to survive."

"You're not going to be able to get that weapon activated," Khrista snapped, moving to hover in front of the woman. "Not if we have anything to say about it, _Mable._ "

I sucked in a breath, eyes widening at the name before they narrowed into slits. "Oh, no. That woman better _not_ be a counterpart to Mabel Pines, or else I'm gonna whack someone over the head for this."

There was no way that these two could have the same name.

"Different spelling, Maria!" Khrista called over.

I blinked a couple times. "Oh. Well, that only makes it a little better."

Mable inclined her head slightly at that. "I don't know who you're referring to, and I don't care. If you want to keep us from achieving our goal in _this_ location, then fine. We have agents in other places who are collecting Pokemon with enough energy for us."

The Abomasnow that had been previously cornered let out a low warning growl and started moving forward, towards the Team Flare members. "You will get what's coming to you - all of you."

I nodded slightly at the Abomasnow's words. "You're not going to be able to achieve whatever it is that you're planning with that weapon - be it wiping out all Pokemon or something else entirely. Count on us to stop you before you can."

"Last time we read about a group like you, they ended up in the rainforest with only their clothes and scrap metal to destroy the human population with," Composite snarled. "What we do won't be _quite_ that extreme, but we'll make sure you fall either way."

Mable inclined her head at that, not at all thrown off by our words. "Hm." She tapped the Flare symbol that was at the top of her skirt twice, then vanished in the flicker of a Teleport. The rest of the Flare grunts disappeared the same way, regardless of whether or not they were conscious.

"Well, that was too easy," I remarked, putting my hands on my hips.

"Yeah, last time someone made a battle this easy, the next one was _significantly_ harder than it should have been." Risa nodded. "Course that was back home in the Cyberworld, but it's probably a similar situation here."

Camanion skidded to a stop. "Where'd they go?"

"Keep up with the times, they all teleported out," Composite responded dryly.

"That's usually what happens; I'm not surprised they did." I sighed gloomily and rolled my eyes a little. "Let's get back to the Pokemon Center and rest up; something tells me we're going to have to tackle the cold again in order to get to Anistar, and traveling at night in the cold isn't the best of ideas."

"Especially not with a nervous Metroid in tow," Composite agreed before transforming back into Ada.

Khrista nodded in agreement. "We'll have to warn them we're making the trek. Normally, we'd have to ride on Mamoswine in order to get through - that pass has a _lot_ of snow piled up in it. If we fly over, though, we'll probably be fine."

"So long as nobody tries anything stupid that is," Ada nodded towards Camanion - who put on an innocent expression - and gestured back towards the cave's entrance.

We made the short trek back out of Frost Cavern and out into the open air. The sun had nearly completely set, and there was a wind picking up - something in the weather was starting to make its move.

I ended up creating another sphere of heat on the way back to the town and the Pokemon Center. Aiden was nowhere to be seen at the bridge, nor was his Mamoswine.

"He must be hunkering down in the Pokemon Center or somewhere nearby for the night," I called to the others as we crossed the river and got back into town. "There's probably going to be a lot of snow in the morning."

Ada rolled her eyes. "If nothing else it'll teach Hunter that he's not as weak as he thinks he is. Of course there's a distinct chance he'll get cocky afterwards, but I can handle that."

"It's going to take a lot for him to get past a built-in, instinctual fear of snow." I frowned as the group came up to the familiar, red-roofed building. "I should know; I was a Vulpix at one point and had to go into the ocean a _number_ of times." I shuddered. "I doubt I'm going to be able to look at water the same way again."

Khrista patted me on the shoulder. "I think the little guy's gonna be fine. He'll probably be glad to know that he'll be okay around snow...mostly...but he probably won't want to do it ever again."

"May as well start him young eh? Give him more time to get used to the idea. It worked for me and fire anyway." Ada nodded. "Either way he'll be fine."

"So long as he has a place to hide, yeah," Khrista said.

The wind whistled past us suddenly, sending hair flying in all directions and sending chills through us despite my hidden circle of heat.

"Let's get inside and get some dinner before turning in," I said quickly. "I don't think we want to be out here any longer than we already have been."

"I can agree," Risa responded.

Camanion muttered something that didn't sound especially happy, rubbing the fur on the back of her head into place. "Yeah, let's go."

 **Frost Cavern's come and gone and we're getting closer to The End here. Got a Gym Leader next time, and then Flare's gonna get clobbered!**


	74. Kalos part 12

**Here comes the next one! Another decent length of a chapter!**

 **3 chapters left after this one! Looks like we're going to be done posting this before Easter Sunday hits!**

 **Chapter 74 – Kalos, part 12**

 **Maria's POV**

The next morning, the entire town was covered in snow drifts. And I don't mean little ones – the blizzard that came through the night before really had a lot to drop.

Considering that Khrista and I were at least able to fly and we were probably going to be borrowing Aiden's Mamoswine in order to get over to Anistar, I didn't see it as too much of a problem.

Hunter, on the other hand…

"...You've been in worse before, remember that time you stumbled into Ridley's cryogenic chamber by accident on BSL? That was much colder than this!" Ada argued.

"And if what I've been told is correct, your first meeting with Ada's boss involved him throwing a cold drink at you, it isn't much colder than that out here," Risa threw out.

Camanion decided to get a little more literal in the whole throwing-out-ideas thing by scooping up a handful of snow and lobbing it at the poor Metroid.

Hunter gave an exaggerated scream of pain and shot into the Pokemon Center to warm up.

Ada shot Camanion a poisonous glare and hissed, "Not… Helping…"

Camanion grimaced and plunged her right hand into her pocket as her left held onto her cane. She was probably trying to show that she wasn't going to be throwing any more snow anytime soon, especially since her eyesight wasn't quite on the same level as the rest of ours.

Ada sighed. "I'll go in there and give him a telekinetic shield to keep out the cold."

"And how exactly will this teach him to face his fear?" Risa asked skeptically.

"I'll 'accidently' lower the shield effectiveness over time. By the time he notices, he'll probably be colder than he's ever been."

That was pretty smart, and by the time we would get to Anistar, Hunter would be mostly used to being at least a little chilled.

Camanion smirked. "I like how you think."

Ada entered the Pokemon Center and returned a moment later with a more confident but not _outright_ terrified Hunter following, encased in a glowing green-white shield.

"We're just going to fly over the snow or borrow Aiden's Mamoswine if you can't get yourself up high enough," I explained to the others. "So we won't be touching the snow either way."

"We can fly as high as you need us to," Ada gestured towards Hunter.

"And we can travel just as fast over difficult terrain as over flat," Camanion added. Camanion and Risa's boots came alive with a whirr of power, and they promptly jumped up into the air a little, revealing that their boots were actually jet-propelled. Switch – who wasn't wearing that gaudy red suit anymore and had clothes similar to Camanion's except for a red jacket - nodded and activated jets in a pair of boots that he'd probably gotten recently.

Khrista huffed. "You people and your technology. That's gonna end up making you fall flat on your faces someday if you rely on it too much." Her shirt shifted to the sky blue and red swirl that it had been the night before in Frost Cavern. "Come on; let's get over those snow drifts before we get another blizzard coming down from the mountains. The route isn't long, but it's definitely a prime target for snow storms."

I nodded in agreement. "Most snow routes are." I motioned for the others to follow me, and we made our way to the south to the gate at that end of town.

On the other side, there was a small clearing with tamped-down snow. Around and in front of us was snow that rose up a good ten feet off the ground.

We definitely were not going to be able to walk through that.

Aiden and his Mamoswine were standing near a portion of the snow that looked softer and more recent than the rest. The young man raised an arm and waved.

"I'm glad you guys got out of Frost Cavern all right last night!" Aiden said. "You're heading to Anistar next, then?"

"Yup." My hoverboard detached from my back and unfolded, falling into a hovering position to my right. I stepped on as Aiden's eyes widened and his jaw dropped. "I'm guessing you were wondering if we'd need your Mamoswine's help, right?"

Aiden nodded dumbly.

"Thanks for the offer, Aiden, but I think we'll be able to get across easily enough on our own." Khrista looked over at the others as she started to hover off the ground a bit. "You guys ready? We're going to try to get across this route as fast as possible so that we can get to Anistar to meet Olympia, but if we need to take this slow, we can."

Hunter chirped nervously, "How fast _can_ we go?"

Ada smirked, floated upward slightly, and suddenly teleported – or moved? – forward with a pulse of light. A loud _bang_ followed that made me wince back a little. "That fast enough for you?"

Camanion jetted forward the same distance at a speed that could barely be described as subsonic and Risa and Switch followed at speeds that left them visible, but barely.

"And to answer your comment from earlier," Camanion nodded to Khrista, "I'm better with tech than TK, and Risa _is_ tech, so we'll stick with what we're good at."

Khrista and I blinked a couple times, wide-eyed expressions on our faces at the show of speed.

"I...don't think I can go _quite_ that fast," I said carefully.

"I-it's a pretty straightforward shot over to the gate on the other side of the route." Khrista breathed in deeply, her shoulders relaxing from a stiff, surprised state. "But since we're so close to the mountains, I wouldn't suggest breaking the sound barrier again. We could get an avalanche if we're not careful."

Aiden winced. "Yes, please don't do that. Abomasnow wouldn't like you very much if you did do that again."

Ada nodded. "Yeah, I can actually hit about Mach 3, but I was putting most of my energy into keeping the snow stable -" Hunter squealed in protest as a trickle of snow fell a handspan from him. Ada glanced up and shot her hand up, quickly stabilizing a patch of loose snow, "-Mostly successfully," She glanced around to make sure there wasn't any more snow ready to fall before exhaling a breath she hadn't noticed she'd been holding.

My hoverboard rose further up into the air, leaving me just above the snow that was piled up in front of us. Khrista moved upwards in the air as well. "Well, I can't get to be that fast myself, but we should still be able to zip across this route in fifteen minutes, max. Five minutes minimum, maybe." I looked over at the others. "And considering that Team Flare is making moves where we aren't, we don't have all that much time to dawdle, so we'd better get moving."

With that, I shot off over the tall drifts of snow, Khrista keeping pace alongside me. Camanion and the others quickly followed after us, with Hunter blasting ahead of Khrista and me.

 _"_ _Oy'ika, n'iviin'yc! Garshuk meh kyrayc!"_ Ada shouted to Hunter. I didn't have a translation program for whatever language they were using – not yet, anyway – so I couldn't quite figure out what it was that she was saying.

 _"_ _Nayc! Ori'ciryc!"_ The skittish Metroid accelerated, moving further ahead.

"I know you're cold," Ada said, switching to English, "But you're going too fast for the group to keep up." She reached out a hand and pulled back a complaining Hunter. "It won't be any warmer on the other side of the gate, and you won't know where to go next, so you may as well stay with us." She shot me and Khrista a look that seemed to say she didn't want an argument

 _"_ _Gar serim, buir,"_ Hunter sighed and stuck with Ada.

Khrista and I exchanged looks, then shrugged and focused on the gate that was coming up fast on the other side of the snow-covered route.

A few minutes later, we reached the other side of the large snow drift and dropped down onto the tamped-down snow in front of the gate.

"Here we are." I stepped off my hoverboard as Khrista and the others landed. "Anistar's probably going to be cold yet, but I don't think we're going to see any snow while we're in town."

"You won't be saying that if we ever head down to Snowbelle," Khrista said. "The entire town looks like this route does." She jabbed a thumb back at the wall of snow we had just passed over.

Hunter made a nervous sort of chirp. "I hope we don't go there."

"Well, that depends on what happens after we talk to the Gym Leader here," I replied. "Normally, after the 7th Gym in the region we go straight into taking on the evil organization that's in the area. So I think that we're going to be finally getting around to taking on Team Flare after we talk to Olympia." I looked over at Khrista, raising an eyebrow. "That sound about right?"

"Pretty much, yeah." Khrista nodded. "Come on; we should probably get to the Gym."

We stepped through the gate and out into a quaint town with solar panels on the roofs of the buildings. And towering over everything else on a platform over a nearby large lake was a large, crystalline, purple-pink crystal that refracted the morning sunlight and gave everything an almost unnoticeable pinkish hue.

I moved closer to the edge of the street in order to get a better look at the crystal. "Whoa. That is impressive."

Hunter started to dart forward before remembering the last few times he'd moved in that quickly to look at something pretty and pulled up short. " _Bu'ir_ , can I fly over and look at it?"

"I don't see why not, do you?" Ada flicked her hand and the faded remnants of Hunter's shield dispersed before he shot off towards the crystal.

Camanion leaned forward and squinted slightly, "I can't quite… wow, that _is_ impressive."

Khrista whistled. "Wow. I didn't think that the Anistar Sundial would look like that. It looks nothing like the one in the game, that's for sure."

"That's supposed to be a _sundial?_ " I stared at Khrista. "You're serious."

"Yup. It's got an in-game mechanic to it, too - after everything with Team Flare's taken care of, Professor Sycamore - the in-game one - says that at certain times of day when the crystal's glowing, you can find Mega Stones like Han's Lucarionite in certain places." Khrista paused. "You...haven't been using that thing lately, though."

"Nope. We haven't really needed to." I looked down at the black ring that was around my left wrist. Other than the initial test that had been on top of the Tower of Mastery, I hadn't really made use of the Mega Ring _or_ Han's Mega Stone. Either that showed how powerful we were already, or how weak our opponents were in comparison to what was coming. "We might have to soon, though; I don't know what to expect from Team Flare, but it's definitely going to be a bigger obstacle than just going through Gyms."

"I think I speak for the entire family when I say that somehow, we don't doubt that," Risa agreed.

Ada glanced up at a moving speck above the sundial and added, "Hunter says it doesn't look much like a sundial from his angle. Never mind, now he sees it, it's just not like any he's seen before."

I nodded, then turned my gaze away from the sundial and looked up the street. "A-ha! There's the Gym!" I pointed up over the rooftop of the nearby Pokemon Center towards a domed building that stood a few streets over. "If we're going to find Olympia anywhere, it's probably going to be there."

"Considering she's the Gym Leader that Valerie mentioned, I'm not surprised," Khrista replied dryly. She started down the street towards the Gym, the rest of us following after her. Hunter rejoined us moments later.

As we reached the Gym's entrance, the doors were pushed open, and a woman stepped out into the morning sun: taller than us, she wore a dark purple, nearly black jumpsuit under a silver, glimmering cloak that caught the morning wind, revealing a night sky pattern on the inside of the cloak. Her hair was a deep purple, and was done up in such a way that it seemed to defy gravity.

"Greetings, Maria, Khrista, Composite, Camanion, and _Oy'an."_ The woman nodded to each in turn. "I have been expecting you."

I was _not_ expecting her to know my name right off the bat.

Risa and Camanion exchanged a glance before Risa shrugged and turned back to the Gym Leader.

"You're a telepath!" Hunter said excitedly, "I don't think I've met a natural human telepath before! Yeah, I'm _Oy'an_ , but you can call me Hunter if that's easier to remember. Most people do. I'm a Metr-"

"I think she knows, _ad'ika_ , if she knows your name without meeting you - or presumably anyone else who knows your _Mando'a_ name," Ada stopped the rambling Metroid.

"You're Olympia, then," I guessed. I really felt like I was stating the obvious. "Did you See us coming, or…?"

Olympia nodded. "Please, come inside. We have much to discuss." She stepped aside, motioning to the open doorway behind her.

Inside, the Gym looked bigger than it was probably supposed to. Possibly because the entire ceiling was covered in constellations and the floor dropped down abruptly a few steps in, except for a thin path that was woven into a maze that looked like several planets that had been connected together. At the other side was a platform that looked like a well-used battleground. Camanion found the drop-off, grimaced slightly, and quickly found the beginning of the maze without bothering to look down. Hunter flew up to investigate the ceiling, assuming that it was a local star chart.

"Whoa." I gained a half-smile. "Tate and Liza are probably jealous of how this place looks."

"They certainly are," Olympia replied. "But you are not here to wander my maze intent on a Gym Battle. Or, you would be, were it not for far more pressing matters." She reached under her cloak and pulled out a Badge that looked like gold and purple smoke and handed it to me.

I nodded as I hid the Badge away in my subspace. "Team Flare's movements may be controlled by something else, since I doubt they would be attempting this after what happened with Cyrus. Valerie said you might be able to give us some help."

Olympia nodded. "Something that does not belong is indeed making its move in our dimension. They do not have a physical presence here, but their presence can be felt in many places." She motioned, and a sparkling mass of stardust rose from the floor, forming into a round wooden table surrounded by chairs. Olympia motioned for us to take seats around the table. "This talk will not be long, but I doubt that you would want to be standing during it."

Hunter floated to his usual position behind Ada's shoulder and stated, "I can't sit."

Ada sighed, " _Ad'ika,_ I honestly can't tell if you're just saying that because you can, or if it didn't occur to you that we all noticed that fact and therefore didn't feel the need to mention it."

"I am aware. There are enough chairs for the others." Olympia nodded to Risa, then took one of the seats. Khrista and I quickly joined her, with Ada, Risa, and Camanion following suit.

"So, what can you tell us?" Ada asked, not one for small talk, and sensing that given the urgency it wouldn't be especially welcome anyway.

"If you want to talk to the Legendaries Xerneas and Yveltal and give them warning of what is coming, I'm afraid you're too late." Olympia placed her hands on the table, palms up. "Team Flare found their resting places and took them when people least expected them to. Zygarde attempted to intercept, but he was weakened too much to be able to stop them. As the Legendary of balance, this does not bode well for our region, much less our world."

"Something's upset things." My brow furrowed. "Otherwise Team Flare wouldn't have had this, and Zygarde wouldn't have been thrown off."

"Your red-eyed visions, yes."

I stiffened at that. How did she – right, right, natural psychic.

"Cyrus' Second Attempt... _upset_ a number of natural balances that would have caused Team Flare to rise naturally, as with the other teams that could have risen afterwards. The presence that interferes is pushing them to take the actions they would have taken were it not for the events in Sinnoh."

"Okay… I'm a little confused. I _think_ what you're saying is that these… entities, whoever or whatever they are, would have attacked this dimension whether or not Cyrus's Second Attempt occurred… but he slowed them down… unfortunately, nobody knew about these entities, so there's no way we could have prepared for them even with the extra time?" Camanion asked, puzzled.

"And by this thing Flare has, you mean the _mir'osik_ tech?" Hunter asked.

Noting the puzzled looks, Ada clarified, "He took a _Mando'a_ word for stupid that just happened to involve excrement and gave that nickname to this." She pulled the damaged mind control box from Hammerspace. "Speaking of which, we really _should_ try to get one of these intact. This one's got some data loss in key areas and it's too badly damaged for any real hardware analysis."

"It is hard to say what these red-eyed beings intend to do, or would have intended, but it is likely that they would have attempted to make their move regardless of whether or not Cyrus had attempted to take over this world a second time," Olympia replied. "Their reasons for doing this are unknown."

"...maybe not completely." I felt uneasy.

Khrista frowned. "What are you-"

"That vision I had after the Power Plant - _'Lure her in; we'll take care of the rest'_ \- it sounded like an order." I looked over at the box in Ada's hand and swallowed thickly. "Team Flare's a cover."

Khrista's eyes narrowed. "You think they're looking for someone. One of us?"

"P-probably."

"There is something else interfering, as well." Olympia turned her focus to Ada. "Not red-eyed creatures, but figures who are in this dimension." She closed her eyes. "Humans, perhaps. Their ambition isn't caused by the same creatures that push Team Flare. Their reason for being here is not to destroy the known world, but catch up with something." Her eyes opened. "Someone."

Khrista and I looked between Olympia and Ada, confusion on our faces quickly changing to wide-eyed expressions.

"Lightfoot…" Ada growled out the name like it was a curse. "I should have killed that _shabla hut'uun_ when I had the chance."

" _Bu'ir!_ " Hunter exclaimed with a shocked tone.

"Correct me if I'm wrong," Risa asked, "But isn't 'coward' the worst insult in _Mando'a?_ Do you really hate him that much?"

Ada glanced at her sister, eyes blazing with barely suppressed rage and simply answered, "Yes."

I swallowed. "Primus."

"Maria is also right. The red-eyes are searching for someone as well." Olympia turned her gaze to the Reploid. "Beware of the black boxes that you have spotted already. They cloud the mind, make people see only what others want them to see. Guard yourself carefully, and watch your back. All of you."

I slapped a hand on the back of my neck quickly. "No way am I letting anyone I don't trust get behind me."

 _"_ _Ne hukaat'kama,"_ Hunter stated solemnly.

"I'll watch your six," Ada both translated and agreed. "And it's unlikely you need to worry about our creators, they probably do not know of your existence, nor do they care. Their ambition outside of their dimension consist entirely of retrieving their escaped subject. They are almost certainly unaware of these red-eyed creatures, and they are almost certainly beneath the notice of your - our - enemies."

I hummed nervously at that. It sounded like these red-eyed monsters were expecting me to step into a trap of some kind. At this point, I just hoped that I would be able to get _out_ of any trap they might make me fall into.

Khrista slammed her right fist into her left hand's open palm. "If they so much as think of getting at me, I'm going to show them why they call me a Human Legendary in-" She paused, straightening up in her seat as her shirt turned bright gold. "Olympia, you sense that?"

Olympia nodded grimly. "It seems we have company of the less-than-liked kind outside my Gym." She rose from her chair.

I rose from my chair. "We'll take care of them." I had a feeling I already knew who was waiting outside.

Ada slipped the black box into Hammerspace, stood, and reverted to Composite. "Not sure what it is, but it's angry. Let's dance."

 _"_ _Oya manda!"_ Hunter cried excitedly.

I looked over at Khrista, then nodded and ran for the Gym's entrance, the others fast on my tail.

We burst out of the Gym and right into the midst of a group of five Team Flare Grunts.

I clenched my fists tightly. Flames sparked from my shoulders, and a _shockwave_ of red-white flames whipped out into the Flare grunts, sending them flying back. "White Flare: Fire Spark!"

The Flare grunts landed on their backs as a result of the force, sparks flying from their limbs. I moved over to one and grabbed his suit, hefting him up and glaring him down eye-to-eye.

"What the scrap are you doing here?" I scowled.

"You definitely aren't supposed to be here," Composite defocused for a moment before holding their hands out, trapping the other four on the ground with some psychic power.

The Flare grunt under my hands trembled. "We-we've got a message! F-from Lysandre!"

"Spit it out, then!" I responded.

The grunt swallowed. "H-he said to tell you, 'Team Flare will revive the ultimate weapon, eliminate everyone who isn't in our group, and return the world to a beautiful, natural state. Unproductive fools are consuming our future…If nothing changes, the world will become ugly and conflicts will raze the land from end to end. I repeat. We will use the ultimate weapon and wipe the slate clean. I'm sorry, those of you who are not members of Team Flare, but this is adieu to you all.'"

"Well Horizon," Composite growled. "First, no you won't, and second, if humans somehow manage to screw up so badly they exterminate themselves, give it another couple million years and the world will start over. Probably with the roaches."

Khrista sucked in a breath sharply.

I dropped the grunt to the ground, then turned and looked at Khrista. "Looks like things are staying the same story-wise; seventh Gym and everything goes into the Danger Zone. Time to get to Geo-"

"Not quite yet." Khrista held up a hand. "Lysandre has a lab in Lumiose under a cafe he owns near Prism Tower. If we go there, we might be able to stop all this before he sets that thing off."

I blinked sharply at that. "It's near - that's close to Tails and Clemont! We've gotta get back there and warn them - fast!"

"One more reason we should have used the ship," Composite grumbled, "The teleporter can only transfer signatures it recognizes to destinations it remembers. If we'd used it earlier, we could have just teleported back to the tower." Their tone became much more upbeat. "Oh well, live and learn." They held out their left and and rezed in their Ki, projecting a region map. "Race you?" They released the grunts, who quickly turned into a dust cloud along with their message-carrying friend – something that startled me. I _really_ hoped that they hadn't been vaporized. "Actually, Hunter, go up to Keely and bring the weapons online. We doubt we'll need it, but if we need to launch some RFGs we _don't_ want to have to wait half an hour to start dropping."

"We aren't going to need them." I pulled out my PokeDex again and flipped on the microphone. "Hey, Atmos! We need a ride to Lumiose - stat! Team Flare is starting to make their move, and I'm going to need as much back-up as you guys can muster if we're going to rescue the Pokemon they're planning on using to power the ancient weapon that's hidden here, as well as the Legendary Pokemon Xerneas and Yveltal!"

 _::Don't you have a Pokemon that can fly with you?::_ came a rumbling growl in reply.

"I do, but there's more than just me down here who need to get to Lumiose, so we need a bigger ride. Can you get us there?"

 _::It would be my pleasure::_

As I stowed my PokeDex away, Khrista asked, "Atmos?"

"Rayquaza," I replied. "I saw that he was known for living in the atmosphere and thought it was fitting."

Risa exploded into blue energy and swirled into Camanion's computer, :: _One less person for Atmos to carry.::_

"Either way," Ada tapped a control on her Ki, "Keely, I need you within striking range of these two points, give or take about ten or fifteen kilometers." She brought up a map and tapped Geosenge and Lumiose. "We may need Condor to come down and, I dunno, turn a heavy blast door into rough-cut schnitzel or something."

 _::Affirmative, Commander::_ a cool female voice responded. Two dots appeared on the map, one above their current location and one between the two towns. _::Destination in five minutes.::_ Hunter made a bobbing motion and teleported to the ship in a flash of light.

"All right, it's time for me to fight my old teammates? Well good for me then." Switch made a determined face and tapped his two PokeBalls.

Khrista glanced over at him. "No love lost, huh?"

"Not enough that you'd notice." Switch grimaced. "I decided to bug out when they started handing out the boxes."

I looked at him sharply at that, but before I could say anything, a loud, roaring bellow came from above. We looked up as a large, mostly green, snake-like Pokemon came flying down from the sky in a spiral over Anistar, slowing to a stop as the creature landed next to the Pokemon Gym.

The Rayquaza – Atmos – lowered his head and turned it, eyeing us with one dark eye. _"Guildmaster, this is strange company that you keep."_

"I've picked up a few friends since I got here; anything wrong with that?" I raised an eyebrow.

Atmos rumbled. _"No. They are simply intriguing."_ He tilted his head slightly. _"Come up. The flight to Lumiose will not be long, but we do not have much time to simply stand around and wait."_

"No, we don't." I jumped up onto Atmos' head with a burst of air from my jets; Khrista quickly climbed up after me. "Come on, guys! We've got a bunch of goons to stop!"

"Here's hoping they're just as incompetent as the rest!" Camanion announced.

"About four feet straight ahead," Ada murmured to her sister. Camanion quickly and easily climbed onto Atmos' head, followed by Switch and Ada. Ada held out her right arm for a moment. Hunter reappeared in a flicker of energy, quickly assessed the situation, and latched onto his offered perch. Ada locked him on with telekinesis and pulled her arm back in. Camanion pulled her cane into three segments, wrapped an elastic strap around it, and placed it in Hammerspace.

Atmos gave a low rumble when everyone had settled on his head, and he lifted himself up slowly off the street. A flicker of a shield of air appeared around the group on top of his head for a moment, but it disappeared from sight – his Air Shield ability; it'd keep us from getting blown off.

Then Atmos took off, shooting into the air and leaving Anistar in the dust.

 **Next couple of chapters are going to be long ones again because we're hitting the climax for that Kalos arc. Heh heh. I'll see you guys next time I update - which should be soon.**


	75. Kalos part 13

**Hitting the long chapters again...**

 **And if anyone's wondering, yes I'm just going to post a chapter a day from now through Thursday. We are that close to done with this fic and I am that impatient to get it out to you guys.**

 **So let's go!**

 **Chapter 75 – Kalos part 13**

 **Maria's POV**

Atmos ended up landing in the center of Lumiose, in the central plaza right around Prism Tower - a perfect circular shape that let him land almost curled up like a snake, rather than stretched out over a runway. We quickly slid off his head, windswept but none the worse for the wear.

"Thanks for the lift." I gave Atmos a thumbs-up. "Think you can get everyone together and let them know that Team Flare's on the move?"

 _"_ _It will be no problem for me,"_ Atmos rumbled in reply. _"Watch yourself, Guildmaster. There is no telling what it is that you might be facing now."_

I nodded, and Atmos lifted his head and shot off around Prism Tower, quickly rising into the air and out of sight.

"Maria!" Tails came running out of the tower, Clemont on his heels. "What's happened?"

"Team Flare is making their move; Khrista said they've got a base in the city that's close by here." I jabbed a thumb at Khrista, who nodded grimly. "You guys might be unknowing next-door neighbors."

Clemont stared blankly at that as Tails' eyes widened sharply. "You're joking."

Khrista shook her head. "I'm not. They've got a base under the cafe Lysandre frequents. Do you know where it is?"

Clemont's brow furrowed as his glasses flashed. "Cafe...Lysandre…." His eyebrows shot up. "Yeah! It's actually named for him; it's over here!" He ran over to the edge of the plaza and past a Pokemon Center; we quickly followed after him and reached a small building built completely of dark red brickwork.

Ada's pupils flashed blue for a second, looking intently at Tails and Clemont. "Okay, I'm not seeing any unnatural EM signatures attached to them. They're probably clean." Her gaze moved to the building itself as her pupils flicked through blue, orange, gray, and returned to their usual human black. "But that cafe's a different story. There's a secret door behind the back wall…" She made a continue gesture to Camanion.

"...Which certainly doesn't appear on the floor plans filed publicly with City Hall, in violation of fire codes among other things, I think we _may_ have just hit paydirt." Camanion unplugged the earpiece from her computer and returned it to Hammerspace. Risa emerged from the computer in a swirl of blue energy, already in her armor.

"That would be their lab," Khrista said with a nod. "There's a dish cabinet in there that we have to get out of the way of the entrance. The staff's Team Flare, too, so we're going to have to take them out before we can get in there."

"Easily done." I cracked my knuckles. "I won't be able to let my team go completely loose here, considering that Gol is a giant and would probably make the ceiling collapse if he was allowed to go wild. There's more than enough of us here to split up and take them out quickly, though, so let's get moving before they try to pull a fast one on us."

I stepped into the cafe ahead of the others, setting foot in a decent-sized room with a counter and a small number of tables. The entire interior was a deep, dark red, and there were only two people standing in the cafe - a man and a woman, both dressed like employees with no red to be seen on their persons.

There was an odd, glazed expression in their eyes, but they didn't look completely out of focus, which caused me to pause a short distance into the cafe as the others came in after me.

The man and the woman both turned their focus to the newcomers and pulled out a PokeBall each. They started to raise their arms to throw them. I expected that we were going to have to fight, and wondered if the Pokémon had been black boxed, too.

"Shock Wave!" Khrista stepped forward suddenly, her shirt turning an electric yellow as a quick wave of lightning zapped off her and into the man and the woman, causing them to spazz before collapsing.

Clemont's jaw dropped. "Wow…."

"You can have time to admire my ability later; we've got other things to worry about," Khrista replied.

"The entrance is behind here, right?' Tails walked over to the innocent-looking cabinet with cups and plates, looking it over. "I don't see a hidden switch…."

"I bet it's a spoken password or something like that." I moved closer to the knocked-out man and nudged him with a foot, rolling him over just enough so that I could see the back of his neck. I flinched back when I saw what I had been expecting and looked at the others. "They've got black boxes; we're going to have to be careful down there."

"Who says the door needs to remain intact?" Ada asked. She transformed into Composite with a flash, and aimed their left arm at the cabinet and focused. A previously invisible hatch in their forearm opened on top, the door unfolding open over her arm in two. A laser weapon rose from inside, aiming over Composite's shoulder. The laser spun on a turret mount, aiming down their arm. The barrel reshaped itself slightly and fired a cone of brown energy, seemingly dissolving the entrance and causing Tails to jump back from the cabinet in surprise.

Once it was gone, the cone shut off and the barrel reconfigured itself again. Composite held out their right hand and the turret aimed at a spot just above it. A bright light flickered above their hand, forming a wireframe of some sort of grenade before filling it in. "Never underestimate the utility of a digitizing laser. Or a flashbang. Anyone else need equipment before we put this up?"

 _"_ _Bu'ir?_ How do you even fit that thing in your arm?" Hunter asked, the question having never occurred to him.

"We don't, it rezes during deployment." Composite shrugged before glancing at the others. "Oh, and Risa, see if you can get one of those boxes off without hurting the host."

"I-I think I'm going to be fine." I stepped away from Composite a little. That laser in her arm – a digitizer, probably, if my Tron knowledge was right – made me feel a little unnerved. That, and the fact that she could pull weapons out of nowhere – I was fine enough on my own with what I had, since I wasn't planning on killing anyone!

"We're not completely defenseless." Tails pulled his three PokeBalls out of his tails as Clemont pulled out four of his own. They hid the PokeBalls away again. "What's so dangerous about the black boxes?"

"They're mind control devices." I swallowed. "You're going to have to watch your backs in there - it could be more dangerous than watching out for a Pokemon that knows Hypnosis."

"Suit yourself," The digitizing laser spun to point over Composite's shoulder and sank back into its hatch, which closed and became seamless again. Risa tossed a box to Composite, who caught it and put it and the flashbang into Hammerspace with a single smooth motion. "We've been analyzing these black boxes, but the only other specimen we have is badly banged up, so we couldn't do any hardware analysis. Speaking of which, once we're done with them, you can take first shot at destroying them Maria."

"Y-yeah, sure." I nodded. Being anywhere near them gave me the heebie-jeebies, but so long as I was destroying them, I shouldn't end up like the rest of Team Flare seemed to have.

"We should concentrate on taking care of Team Flare first before they can set off that weapon," Khrista pointed out with a dark frown. "Hopefully we'll be able to stop them here."

"Then let's go before they make a move ahead of us." Tails motioned for us to follow him, then disappeared into the dark entrance that had been behind the dish cabinet. We quickly followed, going down a dark stairwell until we entered a dim, red and black chamber. Walls that came up to the height of my neck separated us from other parts of the room, with small openings that had odd, glowing blue panels with arrows on them breaking the walls into chunks. At the other end of the area they'd stepped into was a set of red, metal doors - an elevator.

And standing in front of them was a man in a dark suit with red accents, and bright red hair that exploded off his head like a lion's mane. The man's appearance flickered.

"A hologram," I muttered.

"On it," Camanion murmured, pointing her computer at the hologram and tapping away.

"Lysandre!" Clemont exclaimed.

"Welcome," the hologram of Lysandre said. "The world will soon reach the point of no return. Saving the lives of all is impossible. Only the chosen ones will obtain a ticket to tomorrow. Do you want to have a ticket, or do you want to stop me? I tried to save people – and the world – with the profit from this lab. But my efforts had no effect…The world was too vast…and too full of fools that I couldn't save through my hard work alone." Lysandre shook his head. "That's why I decided the only way to save the world was to take it all for myself. I don't expect that I will ever make you understand how I think and feel…Try to stop the ultimate weapon if you must, but to do so, you will have to explore our lab and have Pokémon battles with all you meet." He looked back at the elevator. "Oh, and as for the Elevator Key, one of the Team Flare Scientists you've met on your journey has it." Lysandre looked back at us. "Saving everything…The world is suffering because of this absurd dream…."

The hologram flickered and died.

"That was almost word-for-word what he says in-game." Khrista frowned. "Except he's supposed to fight you here in the middle of that."

"The hologram thing means that something's changed." I looked around, eyed the glowing blue panels with the arrows, and groaned. "Sliding Tiles, great. Those things are _annoying."_

"As annoying as Warp Panels?" Khrista pointed at a glowing yellow, circular panel that was under where Lysandre's hologram had been a moment ago.

 _"_ _Even worse!_ With those things you can't see where you're going!" I waved a hand wildly. "At least I can fly over these walls and avoid the Sliders, but Warp Panels are something else."

"They can't be hacked, either, so we're going to have to try all the panels we can find in order to find all the information we can," Clemont said worriedly. "He mentioned scientists?"

"Yeah; he probably means those girls with the visors we've been running into, like the one at the power plant." My brow furrowed. "I think there's...four of them, at least."

"Give me about ten seconds, I _think_ I've found a map." Camanion clicked a few controls, murmured something, and projected a hologram from her computer. "Yup, no need to hunt-and-peck."

The map of the lab showed a large chamber split up into smaller rooms by the short walls, with the main entrance at the bottom, two rooms on the right side, one room on the left, and two more rooms along the top.

"This doesn't tell us where the scientists are, but it does give us a good place to start," I noted. "They're probably hiding in one of the rooms that branch off this one - shouldn't be too hard to get to them, if we move fast and fly rather ran run. I'd rather not slide across a chamber because I stepped on one of those arrow tiles." Her nose crinkled up in annoyance at the thought.

"If I had to guess, I'd say the keys would be farthest from the entrance, but our friend here," Camanion gestured towards the hologram, "might be smart enough to not do that. If he was _really_ smart, he wouldn't have left the maps on a network-connected machine, but he probably just took the labels off and thought he was secure. I see this all the time and it never fails to be the weak link."

"Lysandre's networks are usually more secure than this," Clemont said worriedly. "Something else must be going on."

"Setting a trap," I muttered. "He's making things too easy."

I knew "easy." I'd been through five different bases before and each one had had varying levels of difficulty. The Rocket base with its warp panels and Giovanni's gym with the sliding tiles were what started all this off, and they really messed with your head.

"This room's a recharge room, I think." Khrista pointed at the room that was on the left. "We can leave that one be, unless it might be a good idea to double-check everything just in case."

"It might be," Tails agreed. "I'll go check that room out. You guys take on the other ones."

"Well, since _I_ can't fly like the rest of you seem to be talking about, I'll have to wander around down here." Clemont motioned to the glowing blue tile. "Maybe I'll run into other Flare Grunts and get information from them on what's going on."

"Watch out for ones who have black boxes on the backs of their necks." I motioned to my own neck. "It looks like hitting them with an electric charge does something about making them go haywire, so since you're the Electric Gym Leader you might be able to do something about it."

Clemont gave me a thumbs-up, then ran for the glowing blue tile that pointed out of the room and shot off with a yelp of surprise.

I jumped up as my hoverboard detached from my back, landing on it as Khrista's shirt shifted to electric yellow and sky blue. "I'll go start with the room that's on the far top left."

Khrista went into a hover. "I'm going to hit the middle one up there then. I may only have Evie with me, but I don't think they'll be expecting me to show off." She grinned widely.

"It looks like there's an open space here that could be interesting." Tails tapped at the upper left corner of the map, which was an open space that was part of the main floor plan, but blocked off. "It's probably by itself for a reason; I'll go check it out."

"...I'm not sensing anything alive in that top right room," Hunter mused, "But there's something in the middle right."

"That's what our thermal says," Composite added, visor glowing orange, "But there's a _lot_ of heat-generating equipment in the top right. You wanna go check it out sis?"

"C'mon Risa, I'll call you back when I get there," Camanion floated up and jetted towards the indicated room. Switch took another second to react, but he quickly followed.

"You wanna take on whoever that is?" Composite asked Hunter.

 _"_ _Oya manda!_ Let's hunt! _"_ The Metroid responded excitedly and took off, followed closely by his parent. Then Khrista, Tails, and I split in our separate directions, and I zipped over the walls towards the room I'd chosen, grinning as I avoided the panel traps _and_ the grunts.

I clonked a Flare grunt in the head with my hoverboard as I flew into the room. I started to reach for my PokeBalls, ready for a fight, then stopped short in surprise.

"Dexio? Sina? What are you two doing down here?" I stepped off my hoverboard as I stared at the two young Trainers tied together on two office chairs in the back of the room.

"Maria!" Dexio turned to face me, causing Sina to face the wall. "You came!"

"Well of course I did; these guys are going to be doing something and I need to take them out before they can." I walked towards them, eyes narrowing. "What _I'm_ wondering is what _you two_ are doing down here."

"Professor Sycamore asked us to look into finding someone that Team Flare might want," Sina explained as I reached them. "A giant man with white hair and ragged clothes - he goes by AZ."

I paused at that, one hand poised over the ropes that tied the two of them together. "AZ? I think I saw him after the power plant incident." My hand became covered in flames, and I burned through the ropes, freeing the two. "So, Team Flare caught you when they found out they were looking for him."

"A-actually…." Dexio rubbed the back of his head. "We tracked his location to here, and…."

I groaned and shook my head. "I told you kids to stay out of trouble and let me handle things. You guys don't have the experience that the rest of us do."

"We know that _now_." Sina ducked her head. "...sorry."

"No, no; you kids were doing what you felt was right, and you've given me some important information in the process." I stepped back as the two rose off the chairs they'd been tied to. "How are your Pokemon?"

"Knocked out, but still on us." Dexio pulled two PokeBalls out of the sleeves of his shirt; Sina did the same.

"We have healing items," Sina added. "We'll be okay."

I nodded. "OK; good. I'm going to get you two back to the entrance so that you can get out of here and tell Professor Sycamore what's going on and that Flare's on the move. Get a message to Amy Rose if you can - tell her to get everybody together and meet me in Geosenge. We might have more to deal with after we oust the Flares down here."

I stepped back onto my hoverboard and motioned for the two kids to climb on behind me. "It's going to be a tight squeeze, just warning you."

"I think we'll be fine with that," Sina replied as she got on the hoverboard.

 **Khrista's POV**

The room in the middle back had _two_ scientists in it - one with purple hair, the other with green.

Considering that Khrista had seen neither face-to-face before, she guessed that they were the ones who had been in the PokeBall Factory, in the other hut that Maria had disappeared into.

"I don't think we've seen you before," the green-haired one said - Bryony, Khrista thought her name was.

"Who are you?" asked the purple-haired one - Celosia.

"I'm the human Legendary from Sinnoh." Khrista grinned as the PokeBall at her belt wiggled a little. Her grin vanished a moment later. "Do you really think you were going to be able to get away with this? Because I've got a few words for you if you do."

The two Flare scientists looked at each other, then back at Khrista.

"Threat assessment: critical," the two of them said together in a monotone. Then they each grabbed a PokeBall and released a Manectric and a Liepard.

Evie's PokeBall popped open, and she landed on the ground in front of Khrista.

 _"_ _You've got to stop!"_ the little Espurr shrieked, releasing a burst of light. She suddenly grew in size, and when the light faded, her fur had gone from a gray to a white, with blue back legs and front paws, a scarf-like bit of blue fur around her neck and a matching tuft on her head that looked like a hat.

Khrista's shirt shifted from sky blue and yellow to a deep orange and earthy brown. "I couldn't agree more, Evie. Let's go!"

Evie let out a sound that seemed like a cooing shriek in the direction of the Liepard, causing the cat-like Pokemon to flinch back as her ears plastered against her head.

Khrista held out a hand, and a large bone staff materialized out of thin air before she rushed forward and whacked the Manectric over the head, getting a howl of pain from the Pokemon before he collapsed.

The Liepard hissed. "You'll pay for-"

She was cut off by another shriek from Evie, and tried to put her head between her front paws in order to stop the noise from reaching her ears. Unfortunately, that wasn't enough to block out the noise, and the Dark-Type feline collapsed on her side.

The two Pokemon were returned, only for two more to take their places: a large, purple scorpion - Drapion - and a metallic, humanoid Pokemon colored in red, silver, and yellow.

"Both Dark-Types!" Khrista warned as the bone disappeared from her hands. She quickly grabbed Evie and lifted her up before raising a foot up into the air. "Earthquake!"

Khrista's foot slammed down.

It started out as a low rumble and gentle trembles, but it quickly picked up from there, shaking the entire room and causing file cabinets to fall over and office chairs to rattle and roll around at the force Khrista was unleashing.

Then a part of the ceiling gave way and collapsed on top of the two Pokemon, pinning them and knocking them out in the same move.

Khrista shifted over from Ground to Electric then, and held out a hand, still holding onto Evie with the other. "Shockwave!"

The resulting blast hit both of the women, knocking them back into a desk that was behind them both. They yelled in pain in unison, then collapsed to the ground. Smoke rose from the backs of their necks.

Khrista sucked in a breath. When Evie squirmed in her arms, she put the Pokemon down, then strode over to the two women. She stood over them for a moment, then reached down and pulled on the things on the backs of their necks.

The boxes came off easily, a small set of prongs trying to go back into the confines of the box but failing - no doubt because of fried circuitry inside.

Celosia and Bryony groaned and started to stir again, causing Khrista to step back. She looked down at the boxes in her hand for a moment, then crushed them; fried boxes weren't going to do Camanion any good if she wanted to study them.

"What just…?" Bryony looked up at Khrista and gasped sharply. She tried to scramble back, but she hid the desk behind her. "Sister! Sister, look!"

"What?" Celosia raised her head and froze when she saw Khrista. "I...I…"

"Can you two remember anything of what you were doing?" Khrista asked, looking between the two of them.

The two women exchanged looks, then looked back at Khrista.

"Some," Celosia said, carefully. "It...feels so strange, though. Like I wasn't all there."

"Yeah, mind control does that. What can you remember about what you've been doing? And why you've been doing it?"

"Hmm…." Bryony's brow furrowed. "We've been using the electricity we stole from the Power Plant to get everything prepared for activating the ultimate weapon. But it's not like that's all we'll need to use it." She shuddered. "Those Pokemon…."

Khrista nodded; they knew that already. "Were you doing this of your own free will?"

"No!" Celosia burst out. "We wanted nothing to do with Team Flare! But then…" Her brow furrowed. "Then something-"

"Forced you to change your minds," Khrista finished.

"How did you-"

"You're not the only ones who have gone through that." Khrista motioned towards the door out of the room with her head. "Get out of here, while you still can. We're going in deeper, to make sure this doesn't happen."

The two women exchanged looks, then scrambled out of the room, returning their Pokemon as they did so.

 _"_ _Why did you let them go?"_ Evie demanded.

Khrista rubbed at her neck. If Evie had been taller, she might have noticed what looked like the faint scars of something that had been placed there some time ago. "They weren't in control of themselves. They're not the enemy here."

 **Maria's POV**

I reached the main entrance with Dexio and Sina moments before Khrista did. Tails soon followed, a triumphant grin on his face and a Klingklang following after him.

"We ran into the scientist that was at the power plant," Tails explained as he landed and returned the Pokemon to his PokeBall. "I'm glad I got to teach her a thing or two." He did a double-take as I let Dexio and Sina off my hoverboard. "Hey - what are you two doing here? Shouldn't you be back in Sycamore's lab?"

"W-we were tracking down someone," Sina defended herself. "We just...we just got caught, that's all."

"Let me guess; you were looking for AZ?" Khrista put her hands on her hips and frowned. A little white and blue cat-like Pokémon, who was perched on Khrista's back and leaning over her right shoulder, frowned as well.

"Yeah, we - hey, did your Espurr finally evolve?" Dexio blinked in surprise.

"Besides the point," Khrista replied shortly.

Clemont suddenly slipped through one of the openings between the walls. He would have been thrown over to the other side were it not for the fact that I was standing in the way.

"Wuf!" I flinched back a little, but didn't step back. My hologram flickered at the impact. "See, this is why I hate those sliding tiles. You can't control when you stop."

Clemont moved back, rubbing his face and wincing. "Maria, you're built like a metal wall - literally. I don't see how they could affect your movement."

"You'd be surprised," I replied dryly. "I've seen Steelix lose their footing on those things."

Clemont blinked a couple times at that. "Steelix? Really?"

"Yeah." I looked over at Dexio and Sina. "You two should get out of here now and tell Professor Sycamore what's going on. We're going to try to stop them from doing anything here, but if they get the weapon activated, I'm going to need to call in a few favors to see about stopping what we can."

Dexio and Sina nodded.

"We'll see you when you've got all this taken care of, then," Dexio said.

"And when the world doesn't end," Sina added.

The two of them bolted up the stairs to the cafe as Camanion, Composite, Switch, Risa, Hunter, and an Espeon came over the walls.

"Hey, guys, did you get the - whoa!" Tails' eyebrows shot up in surprise. "Where'd you get the Espeon?"

"Team Flare had me locked in a cage. I was planning to make my escape when they opened it to feed me or remove me, but when Composite and Hunter dispatched Mable's Pokemon - and quite elegantly too, I might add - I made my presence known." Espeon twitched her tail-tips in satisfaction. "And they haven't _got_ me, I haven't decided whether or not to follow them yet."

"As for Mable, we've got good news and bad news," Composite said. "The good news is we got two Boxes and an Elevator Pass. The bad news… Mable's not being controlled. We don't know if she actually believes in Team Flare's cause or if they've got something on her, but if she is being controlled, it's through conventional means."

Camanion projected a sort of quick-and-dirty executive summary of the information they'd retrieved from the Flare computers. "I've got plenty of info about the Weapon, but to summarize; AZ built device to resurrect a dead Pokemon during war. AZ modified machine into weapon. AZ ended war. AZ stole key so that it couldn't be used again. AZ's brother sealed weapon away and told his son. Our mutual friend," She gestured to where the hologram had been previously, "Is a descendant of the brother. Any questions?"

"Everyone knows that Lysandre is royalty," Clemont commented. "At least, people in Kalos do. AZ, though…."

"That man we saw coming back from the power plant," Khrista replied. " _He's_ AZ - the one who set the weapon off."

"But that's impossible!" I countered. "Not unless he got affected by some kind of...some kind of time distortion or _something_ to keep him alive."

"It could be Xerneas," Tails pointed out. When we looked at him, he added, "He's a Legendary Pokemon that represents _life._ Maybe he made it so that AZ would live forever as a result of what he did?"

We looked at each other.

"It could be possible," I admitted. I frowned. "But what about the weapon? Lysandre sounds like he's got everything he needs, so then this key…."

"If this is anything like the games, he's got AZ on the floor below this one." Khrista pointed down at the tiles at our feet. "We can take the elevator down and get him out of here."

"Yes, but unless Lysandre _somehow_ didn't get the key off - or out - of AZ, then getting to the elevator and rescuing him will only solve part of the problem." Espeon made an agitated flick of her tail. "We'll still have to get to the weapon and disable it. Somehow I doubt that he's here, otherwise he wouldn't have used the hologram Camanion mentioned while we were coming back from the server room."

"Regardless, if AZ is here, rescuing him might prove to be to our advantage." I moved closer to the elevator. "So let's head down a floor and see about getting him out of here."

"We're going to go a floor lower after that," Khrista added. "There's another guy in the base we haven't run into yet - Xerosic. If this is anything like the game, Lysandre probably left him here. Or a hologram of him. He's standing in the room that activates the ultimate weapon _right now,_ and I bet he's waiting for us to get down there before turning it on."

"You're an Avatar," Espeon said. It didn't sound like it was a question.

Khrista nodded. "Yeah. And Maria's the one who clobbered Cyrus the first time around."

"Well, that's certainly encouraging." Espeon _almost_ smiled.

I scowled as I reached the elevator. "And it sounds like more problems are coming up ahead of us that could be as bad or worse than Cyrus." I folded my arms across my chest. "So let's get moving and see about getting AZ out of here before we meet this Xerosic guy."

"In that case, let's move." Composite pulled out the Elevator Pass and slipped it into the elevator slot. We crowded on and went down one level.

The next level down led into a hallway made of gray stone. It went forward a short distance, then turned sharply to the right.

Khrista moved in front of us, motioning for us to follow her quietly as her shirt shifted to bright gold and black. Evie and I moved after her, followed by the rest of the group, and as we turned the corner, we came across a cell. Instead of bars, however, zapping lines of dark energy zipped between open points at the top and bottom of the entrance. There was a key pad to the right of the cell door.

And standing inside that cell was the giant they'd seen after the events at the power plant.

"AZ!" Khrista moved in front of the cell, hoping to get the giant man's attention.

The man looked up at Khrista's voice as the rest of us moved closer. I moved to stand to Khrista's left, my hologram flickering out and leaving my armor exposed.

"You...what are you doing here?" the former king of Kalos asked. His voice was surprisingly quiet for someone his size. "Who are you?"

"I'm Khrista Langstrom, and this is my friend Maria Carlsdale." Khrista nodded over to me, and I nodded in greeting. "The others with us are Camanion, Composite, Hunter, Risa, Switch, and Espeon." She motioned as the others came into view. "We're here to get you out of here and stop Team Flare."

"Apparently they're planning to use one of your former possessions," Composite added. "Now _normally_ we - I - personally would just drop some titanium rods from orbit and bomb it back to the stone age, but apparently it would probably blow up and wipe out half the region. And even if that didn't happen, there are a _lot_ of innocent civilian Pokemon within the blast range."

"This is some serious security," Camanion interjeccted. "By the time I've sliced it they'll have gotten bored with waiting for us and flipped the Big Red Switch."

AZ shook his head. "The ultimate weapon is far more powerful than your mechanical creations. It was crafted from a material I made sure to destroy after…." He trailed off, shook his head again.

"We can think of a few that are more powerful, but in this dimension you're right, though a powerful but weakly defended weapon can be destroyed by something smaller. We've seen it happen before. Now let's see about getting you out of there. _Oy'an_ , we're going to need some overwatch. Sync up." Composite held a finger up and Hunter tapped it with one of his outer mandibles. There was a slight energy discharge and the Metroid slumped slightly, only semi-conscious of the physical world.

Composite turned to Risa. "You coming sis?" The two placed their hands on the keypad, and Composite explained, "This is why Fcon chose our design." The two exploded into swirls of red and blue energy cubes and were absorbed into the panel.

"Whoa!" I stepped back in surprise at the sudden display. I guess that was the AI half really coming into play.

About three seconds later the electric bars dissipated with a loud _zap_ and the two flew out of the panel, both breathing hard.

"Whew," Risa gasped, "That was… fun."

"Fun," Composite grumbled, "Isn't the word." They turned to AZ, "So, you're free. What will you do now?"

"Whew! Always get a kick out of doing that!" Hunter perked up and flew over to check on the pair. "Are you two okay?"

"Yeah, we're fine," Composite said. "Just a little exhausted, that'll sort itself out in a couple minutes."

AZ hesitated, then stepped out of his cell. "I need to take back what was taken from me. I am going to Geosenge." He started to move past us, then paused and looked at us. "Keep your wits about you. The descendant of my brother...he is not quite right." Then he moved around the corner and out of sight.

"We're going to have to give the elevator a couple seconds if we're going to head down to Xerosic," Khrista commented. She frowned. "I'm surprised, though - he didn't give us that story he gave us in the game…."

"Story?" I cocked my head to one side.

"Yeah - the one about how he lost his Floette in the war and made the machine to bring it back to life, only to have it leave him when he used the machine as a weapon. I think he ended up living for so long because he was close to the thing when it went off - like _it_ gave him eternal life or something."

"I can understand that," Camanion commented. "All of it is understandable as it happens."

"That may be, but what we're doing is changing some things," Khrista pointed out. "If I didn't know about what _usually_ happens, I'm sure we'd be missing pieces of the story."

I nodded a little, frowning. "Yeah…."

"We should be able to get to the next floor now." Tails started towards the elevator. "We have to stop the weapon before it gets activated; hopefully, we will be able to take care of that here so that we can rescue the Pokemon in Geosenge without having to be on a timer."

I shook my head a little and gained a determined expression. "Right. Let's take care of this Xerosic guy."

"I doubt it'll be that much of a problem, if he goes to press the button, we _do_ have at least four people on our side capable of using telekinesis to stop him." Camanion nodded to Composite, Khrista, and Evie.

"Five," Espeon added.

"Six," Hunter corrected.

"Since when?" Composite asked.

"I'm not good, but I can knock someone's hand off course, and a couple hours ago I did. Did I forget to mention that?" Hunter asked innocently.

I rolled my eyes at that, but decided against saying anything as we went back to the elevator and crowded inside again before heading down to the third floor. The hallway that the elevator opened out to once again turned sharply to the right, as it had on the second floor.

Khrista and Evie moved to the turn in the hallway and stopped.

Evie's ears unfolded and went straight up like a rabbit's. She backed away from the corner and hissed, _"There's someone there. He doesn't feel right."_

"Must be that Xerosic guy." I moved to join them. "So he's in a room right around the corner here?"

Khrista nodded. "We shouldn't have to worry about him doing anything against us here; he might try to test you in a battle, though." She looked back at the others. "It might be a good idea to keep your weapons ready but hidden, just in case. I don't know what is going to be changed from the game, but it's a good idea to be prepared, just in case."

Composite looked around, visor glowing blue. "Well, we're not going to be able to sneak up on him, there's a camera right outside the door. Either that or a motion detector, either way it'll spot us."

"Always paranoid." I rolled my eyes and sighed irritably, then stepped around the corner and into the open doorway on the wall to the right. The others followed.

The room we stepped into was mostly dark, except for the bright orange lights that lit up a central path that led past computer servers and to an open area at the back of the room. The back wall had a monitor in the middle - it wasn't active at the moment - and two panels on either side of it, each with a button. To the left was a blue button; to the right was a red one.

And standing in front of the monitor and the buttons was a man in a red jacket and pants with skin so pale he almost seemed to be glowing white.

"So the PokeBalls we received and the Pokémon we've gathered are where they need to be." The man tapped a few things on a tablet and grinned. "Add it all up, and it means all preparations are complete!"

"Like we're going to let you make use of them!" I came to a stop a short distance from him, hands on my hips. Khrista stopped to my left and folded her arms across her chest as Evie stood to her Trainer's left and mimicked me.

The man looked up, eyes in goggles with red glass focusing on the group. His eyebrows shot up in surprise. "I wasn't expecting you here so soon! I would have thought that you would have had a harder time trying to find the Elevator Key!"

"Puzzles like that are old hat," I replied.

"Had _way_ too much fun doing it," Composite added.

"Shut your operation down, Xerosic," Khrista said. "We're not letting you activate the weapon."

"We will do whatever it takes to stop you," Espeon snarled.

 _"_ _...Yeah, we'll go with that,"_ Hunter telepathically murmured to the cat.

The man - Xerosic - let out a laugh. " _I'm_ not about to shut it down - it's not even activated yet, after all! But you can try!" He motioned to the buttons that were on either side of the monitor. "Choose! One button will activate the weapon! One button will shut down all our operations and prevent us from making use of it!"

Yeah, no. This had to be a trick question.

Composite held out their hand slightly. "From what we can tell… both controls are armed. Maybe they select a firing mode?"

"It's blue for Xerneas and red for Yveltal, isn't it?" My eyes narrowed as I looked at Xerosic with disapproval. "I'm not stupid; I know the main colors of the two Legendaries that live in this region. So I choose _neither."_

Xerosic burst out laughing. "Correct! Well done! However, unlike Lysandre, who would have said that he would have disbanded us as soon as you had said such a thing, I cannot allow your decision to stand - which is why _I_ will activate it!" He held up a remote control just as his thumb pressed down on a button with the Flare logo.

 _Click._

"No!" I lunged towards Xerosic, intending to tackle him to the ground, but I ended up going through him with a crackle of static.

"Should have expected that," Camanion said, "Both the hologram and the remote."

The screen between the two buttons lit up, crackling with static for a moment before clearing up, revealing a circle of wooden cabins, surrounded by stones of various sizes.

"Geosenge," Khrista said grimly. "It's starting."

Three prongs of stone in the center of the town jolted, then sank into the ground. There was a moment of eerie stillness, then an explosion of dirt and stone as a large, iridescent object erupted from the center of town. It spun slowly, then faster as it released bursts of red and blue light before unfurling like a giant flower with two layers of three petals.

The flower hovered there, then dropped to the ground, smoke rising from a red-black pole in the center of the petals.

"Oh no," I murmured worriedly. "This is...oh no."

"We've got time," Khrista said. "They need time to charge that thing up - we can get to Geosenge and still stop them before they fire it and destroy everything. But we need to move _now."_

"Keely!" Composite's Ki came online with a flicker of a hologram, "Get to these coordinates immediately, and get Condor prepped for launch, we may need air support."

 _::Affirmative Commander::_ came the AI's calm reply.

"Much as I'd love to see a re-entry burn," Camanion nodded, "We'll have plenty of time to watch that later."

"There's nothing left for us here, let's go." Hunter said solemnly.

"Hunter, could you _not?_ " Risa asked.

"No; he's right." I turned to look at the others, my PokeDex already in hand. "Atmos, meet us in the Central Plaza. We're flying for Geosenge as soon as we meet up with you."

 _::Understood, Guildmaster. The Guild is on high alert and sending a team in; they'll meet us there::_

"Good; at this point, we're going to need all the help we can get." I slipped the Dex into my subspace and started moving out of the room. "Come on; we've got a time limit that the avatars didn't have, and I'm not about to let any more time slip past us."

Risa snorted a little. "You wouldn't be agreeing with him if you got that reference." She followed the rest of us out of the room.


	76. Kalos part 14

**The longest chapter starts...now.**

 **Chapter 76 – Kalos part 14**

 **Maria's POV**

Atmos rumbled uneasily as he circled over Geosenge and the large, crystalline flower that had bloomed in the center of it. The route to the south - with all its gravestones and ruins - had a large crowd of figures in it. I could barely make out the red suits as they rushed back and forth between the stones, making sure that other figures of various sizes were attached to them and unable to run off. _"I do not like the looks of this place. It reeks of death."_

"It'll reek of more of it if we don't do something fast," I said worriedly. "Land by the gate at the southern end of town; I want to see if that team you mentioned earlier is waiting for us over there."

Atmos dipped down a little, then circled around the flower, giving it as wide a berth as he dared before landing next to one of the wooden cabins, which had been overturned when the weapon had burst out of the ground. We slipped off, and Atmos quickly took off.

"I don't blame him for leaving so fast." Tails' tails shuddered. "There's something about this place…."

"Yeah." I nodded a little. "We have to hurry if we're going to be able to take this all out before they fire that thing."

"I couldn't agree more!" A yellow, rodent-like Pokemon came out from the underbrush near the edge of the town, red bandanna tied around his neck with a badge pinned to it - a gold PokeBall with a red gem for a button and wings sprouting from either side of the sphere. I _knew_ this Pokémon, and it made me relieved and worried to see him here of all places. "That's why I came here personally to take care of what we can out here while you go after the goons manning the weapon itself."

"If you want, I can have my ships fly a few passes, maybe do a bit of strafing nearby, that should put their heads down for a few minutes." Ada offered. "They're about… ten kilometers out, but that's about two minutes of travel time, maybe… ninety seconds if I tell them to kick in the afterburners." She activated that hologram-communicator on her wrist. "Speaking of which, how much fuel _do_ you have?"

 _::Eight tons::_ Keely responded.

"So that's… about twelve hours sublight, six FTL. If it takes that long we've got bigger problems than running out of gas. Be ready to do some intimidation runs over the middle of town if I call." Ada disconnected and nodded to Hunter. " _Oy'an,_ I need you to be ready to go to the ship and sync up at a moment's notice. If there's any warning shots fired, you'll be aiming. I don't trust Condor not to take matters into his own hands and try to shoot the flower."

"You have weapons in the atmosphere?" Pika frowned, worried. "And Atmos hasn't-"

"He probably inspected them and left them alone," I responded quickly. "Pika - who else is here with you?"

"Mana insisted on coming, and Grove and Celese as well." Pika motioned to the bushes behind him. "They're scouting out the area that the captured Pokemon are being held; hopefully Grove and Celese will be able to come up with something so that we can get everyone loose."

I nodded. "Good call. Be careful - the Flares have Fire, Dark, and Poison-Types at their disposal, unless the ones in there don't have theirs." I nodded to the southern gate, where four Flare goons were standing. "Do what you can to slow them down - we're going on ahead to take out their main base of operations here."

Pika gave a thumbs-up. "I'll let you know if I need anything." He dove back into the bushes and disappeared from sight.

"Grove, Mana, and Celese?" Khrista raised an eyebrow.

"Grovyle, Manaphy, and Celebi," I replied without batting an eye. "Specifically, the Grovyle and Celebi from the future timeline, now in the present." I looked around at the overturned cabins, then looked at Khrista with a pointed expression. "Where's the entrance into their base of operations here?"

"Wherever it is, we'll need a bit of rapid entry most likely," Ada's Ki reactivated. "Hunter, get over there, Keely, I need you here, full throttle. Tell Hotshot it's time to rock and roll,"

 _::Affirmative Commander::_ Ada's communicator emmitted a building roar followed by a loud _clunk_ sound. _::Ready in two minutes::_

"You're losing your edge Vulcan, I heard that excitement." Ada grinned. Hunter flashed out in a teleport and Ada disconnected.

"The base's entrance is over this way." Khrista motioned for us to follow her, and she started running around the perimeter of the town towards a path that led off to the northwest. "It's disguised as a pillar of rock; it leads straight into an elevator!"

"Underground, huh? Sounds like they've had this place for years, then." I looked around at the turned-over town. "I didn't hear any chatter from the townsfolk about recent construction when we came through here last!"

"Lysandre could have disguised it years ago as something that was beneficial to the town!" Clemont spoke up. "I think I remember hearing something about him being up here when he was setting up the Holo-Caster network that most of Kalos runs on!"

"So he's been working on this for years?" Tails asked in surprise.

"He could have started it, then stopped when Cyrus happened," Khrista replied as they reached the rock pillar she'd mentioned. "And then he left everything to collect dust before all this happened." She looked the pillar up and down, frowning. "It looks like the elevator doors aren't accessible right this moment...they must've expected us and sealed off the entrance."

"Then we're gonna have to figure out how to break it open," I replied.

"No problem," Ada transformed into Composite just as something that looked suspiciously like a flying brick came over the horizon. "We can just blast it open." Hatches on the top and bottom of the vessel opened, deploying two laser turrets on the bottom and two missile racks on the top.

"Since when do you have a Keelback?" Risa asked.

"Since before your computers could handle fighters, and speaking of which…" A hatch on the bottom of the modified freighter lowered, revealing a fighter that looked like a cross between a delta and a horseshoe with laser weapons on the insides of its mandibles in the bay. The fighter launched with a bright flash of light and roar of sound. Composite deployed the digitizing laser and aimed at the pillar, prompting the rest of us to scramble out of the way.

A red aura surrounded the front of the pillar, and Composite announced, "Hotshot, We've got your target."

 _::Time to break some windows!::_ An exuberant male voice emerged from Composite's open helmet. The fighter overflew the city, scattering terrified grunts in all directions. It flipped on its tail and flew straight towards the pillar, releasing a sonic boom as its afterburners lit with a roar.

"Whoa!" Tails' ears went straight up. "That's fast!"

"What kind of technology _is_ that?" Clemont asked in amazement. His glasses flashed. "I've got to replicate that!"

"You know what they say, 'Infantry exists to paint targets…'" A brilliant flash of light connected the fighter and pillar, vaporizing the front and revealing the elevator car, "'...For people with real guns.'" Composite said conversationally, retracting their digitizer.

I gulped. "I'm glad you gave us a warning! I'd hate to have been caught up in that!"

"No kidding," Khrista agreed.

"Composite, your quills!" Espeon said, worried.

"What about the-Whoa! Cuttn' it a little close aren't you Hotshot?" Composite reached a hand up and touched their quills, which seemed to have lost integrity at the tips from the blast. One brief flicker of energy later the damage was repaired.

 _::No problems though, right?::_ the fighter's AI asked.

"Just be a little more careful next time." Composite's visor rezed translucent red. "Now, go back to scaring the goons, no vaping any of them. As for us, we've got a base to take down."

 _::Got it Skipper::_ the muffled voice replied before disconnecting.

Tails blinked a couple times before he shook his head, ears flopping a little. "That is some incredible technology, Composite. Where did you manage to find something like that?"

"The dimension is represented by a game called Elite Dangerous. We know it exists in this dimension because _somebody_ ," they gave a pointed look to Camanion, "Spends more time playing it then she does working. And that's nothing. That ship," Composite gestured towards the freighter, "Can do several thousand times the speed of light when the Frame Shift Drive comes online, jumping up to about fifteen light years in about ten seconds. Camanion built a secondary hyperdrive that allows her to go interdimensional. The fighter is capable of traveling at just under Mach 1 at full throttle and can do about Mach 1.5 with the afterburners. It's a constant source of annoyance that the freighter's burner speed is about two meters per second slower than his full throttle. The freighter's lasers can hit ground targets from orbit and can drop titanium rods that hit the ground with enough kinetic force to vaporize anything in a fifty meter radius or so." The two ships continued to fly over the town, firing beams that missed grunts by inches with some enthusiasm.

"That's impressive," Tails commented. "You'll have to give me the pointers later, after we've taken care of Team Flare."

"Speaking of which, we'd better get down there." I jabbed a thumb at the elevator car. "Come on; we probably don't have much time before they try to power it up and do who knows what to the world as a result."

"Yeah, the big scary ships aren't going to hold them for long before they realize that they won't actually do anything," Risa agreed, stepping toward the elevator.

The group stepped into the elevator - which was actually larger than the one that had been in the Flare base below Lumiose - and eyed the control panel that was sitting on a small platform in the center of the elevator.

There were only two buttons on it. Considering that this was an elevator, I'm sure you know what those buttons were.

"Going down." I pressed down on the down arrow.

The elevator jolted, then started down the elevator shaft at a rather quick speed. I gripped Delta's PokeBall as Khrista and I exchanged determined looks.

Risa exchanged slightly nervous looks with her sisters and reloaded her stun gun. Composite checked that their blades were dulled and sheathed them. Camanion pulled her whip out of Hammerspace and clipped it to her belt. Espeon's gem glowed slightly as she prepared to use her power.

The elevator came to a smooth stop at the bottom of the shaft. We exchanged looks again, then looked back at the elevator door as it opened up behind us.

The room beyond looked like a control center - very much similar to the kind that was in space centers. Men and women in red suits or lab coats moved about from one computer to another, talking among themselves. A set of stairs led up to a higher-up platform that was in front of a glass wall, which showed a dark, circular shaft. Inside the shaft, red and black cables were suspended in the air, leading up towards the surface and down far, far below where they stood now.

"All right." I took in a breath, then stepped out of the elevator with purpose. My metal boots clanged against the floor with enough force to get the people present to turn their heads to look over at them.

 _""Heghlu'meH QaQ jajvam,"_ Camanion murmured under her breath.

As the heads of the Flare goons turned, I caught sight of black boxes on the backs of their necks.

Composite grimaced – they'd seen them too. "This… could be a problem."

"Some of them don't feel right," Espeon commented. "Not like humans, not quite like holograms, but they're close."

Composite stiffened. "Great. At the worst possible time, too. We'll have to lure them out before the Disks start flying."

I glanced back at them, frowning a little out of worry as Khrista's eyes narrowed.

"Welcome."

My head turned back sharply towards the raised platform at the end of the room we were approaching, eyes locking with the sharp blue eyes of Lysandre, who stood at the top of the stairs.

"The ultimate weapon's flower has finally bloomed above the soil." Lysandre motioned back to the glass wall behind him, but his movements seemed somewhat stiff. "Don't you find its beauty captivating? As we speak, it draws its energy from the Legendary Pokémon below us." He looked back at us. "Maria! I apologize that the weapon was unearthed even after you chose not to awaken it in the lab. But conflicting egos drive this world – things don't always go the way you want!"

"Black-boxed," Khrista muttered. Her shirt flickered bright yellow; her hands twitched, sparks flying off her fingertips.

"Risa, can you tell which ones don't belong?" Composite asked.

Ones that didn't belong? What did _that_ mean?

"Yes," Risa nodded in agreement. She clenched her right fist and summoned a buster in the shape of a blaster rifle. She immediately turned and drilled a hole through one of the Flare grunts. Before anyone had a chance to react, the grunt gave a disappointed yell, glowed orange, and dissolved into the air with a distinct _bzzzeeet!_ sound.

I jumped at the sudden explosion. "What the-"

"Fcon ICPs," Composite growled. "If you can tell the difference - never mind." About half the grunts came to attention and their human forms faded into humanoid figures in gray armor with purple circuit patterns drawn on them. "- slot them, they don't understand surrender." Their voice rose to a bellow. "ALL NON-COMBATANTS, HIT THE DECK!"

Despite their mind-controlled state, the Flare grunts had no problem obeying that order, taking cover behind whatever came to hand. Switch, lacking weapons, did the same.

"Rogue Program Located, Identifier: Composite, Orders: Return rogue program or proof of deresolution," one of the ICPs said in a monotone. It pulled a flat ring – a Disk – off of its back and threw it at Composite. Composite drew a Disk from its place on their back and blocked the attack before returning the favor.

It took me a moment to really process what was going on – we were being attacked. By Programs in the physical world.

Hoo boy.

Lysandre gave a pained look, as if his mind-controlled brain was having trouble comprehending the situation. "Wha-? Who? How?"

Camanion shot forward and tackled him to the ground just in time to keep him from being decapitated by an off-course Disk. "Sorry sir, but what part of 'hit the deck' did you not understand?" She telekinetically swept him behind a console.

Hunter flashed into the room behind Composite. "The goons up top got brave and started taking potshots… hey, where'd the softwares come from?"

"Does it matter?" Risa asked, "They're Fcon goons."

"Can I-"

"Yes _ad'ika_ , you can eat them," Composite nodded.

" _Duu'mhi redalur_ ," Hunter murmured. He shot forward and latched onto one of the ICP's heads.

Camanion took a second to parse the compressed speech before smirking, "Yes, let's dance." She pulled a large laser pointer out of hammerspace and clicked some sort of passcode on a few buttons along it. A visible blue line of light shot out of it, causing the floor to smoke. "Let's dance indeed."

"Maria, Khrista, they're probably weak to fire," Composite noted. They telekinetically slapped down the heads of a group of especially stupid goon just in time for Risa to hose the nearby ICPs with her blaster.

"Hmph." The sparks faded from Khrista's hands as her shirt swirled, gaining a deep red color with the bright yellow. Flames quickly gathered on her hands and crawled up her shoulders.

My arms quickly became covered in flames as well. "Fire, huh? Sounds like these guys'll be a piece of cake!"

Khrista and I quickly moved back-to-back and lunged towards a pair of figures that were coming up on them, Disks raised over their heads. "Flame Charge!"

 _Bzzzt!_

I came to a stop shortly after ramming through the not-actually-a-Flare-grunt, blinking in surprise at the orange bits as they dissolved into nothing. I shook my head. "It's just like battling Heartless; these things aren't actually capable of thought...yeah." I glared over at another who threw a Disk in my direction, ducked under it, and rammed into him with another fire-coated tackle, as well.

"The perfect grunts, they can obey orders, but they can't question and they can't disobey." Hunter squealed happily as his target derezed. Composite's blades sharpened and flashed with green energy as they joined the melee.

It wasn't too long before we managed to completely clobber all the ICPs, leaving behind two scientists and a Flare grunt with his back up against a wall. The crushed remains of a black box lay on the floor near him - it was likely that he had slammed against the wall too hard and disabled the device in the process, because he looked absolutely terrified.

Khrista and I relaxed out of our attacking stances, then turned and looked up at Lysandre with disapproving frowns as he looked down at us with muted shock.

"How about this?" I raised an eyebrow. "We won't let _you_ have your way. You're not setting that weapon off; we're going down below now to release the Legendary Pokemon."

Lysandre blinked a couple times, then shook his head. "Even though resources, space, and energy on this planet are limited, the number of people and Pokémon has increased to an unsustainable level. Whether it's money or energy, the ones who steal are the ones who win in this world. I have the resources to bring the population down to a manageable level, and the will to do it."

"That's probably what Cyrus was thinking when he decided to remake the world," Khrista spoke up. "Just because your idea's different doesn't make you any better, either. _Or_ more beautiful, no matter what you might claim."

Lysandre hesitated. It looked like he wanted to say something, but Khrista's statement had left him without really all that room to say anything in response.

Sparks flew from Khrista's fingers again, and she held up a hand before flicking her wrist. "Thundershock."

The thin, weak burst of electricity zipped through the air and hit the black box that was barely visible on the back of Lysandre's neck. He winced, stumbling back and away a little as the thing fell off his neck and bounced a couple times on the ground, fizzing and spitting from the overload of electrical energy.

Lysandre rubbed at the back of his neck, shook his head, blinked a couple times in confusion. A moment later, his eyes snapped wide, and he looked up at us with an expression of shock. "You don't have much time. Take that door - quickly!" He pointed towards an open door that led down a stairwell.

Clearly, he'd managed to regain his senses.

Khrista nodded. "Get out of here while you still can, Lysandre. We'll take care of things from here - and keep that box with you; it might be a good idea to have proof that you weren't yourself during all this."

Lysandre nodded and grabbed the box before running out of the base, motioning to the Flare grunt and the two scientists to follow him out. They did so in a scrambling panic and were soon cleared out of the base, taking the elevator up with them.

Khrista looked back at the rest of us. "Let's get down there; something tells me we're gonna find more boxed goons down there, so be ready."

I cracked my knuckles. "We've been able to avoid getting hit with those so far; we'll be able to handle the rest of them, no problem."

Lethal weapons were swapped out and replaced with non-lethal counterparts. Composite sliced the power cable of an information terminal in half and used it to charge their electrical powers and said, "Let's go." Their visor faded to translucency.

We moved through the doorway that Lysandre had pointed out before he bolted, and we started working our way through the hall and down sets of stairs.

Khrista looked around, her eyes narrowing as she frowned. "Something's not right...we _should_ be running into Flare goons every few feet down here, but I'm not seeing anybody."

"Considering that we not only just ran into mindless programs given form and we've got something else interfering in what's going on, I wouldn't be surprised that this part is different." My eyes narrowed at the empty hallway ahead of us. "Still, this does feel wrong, somehow."

Composite's visor changed rapidly through different colors, "Yeah, it's too quiet. And it's been too long since anyone's been through here. We're not even seeing residual heat signatures from human passage."

Well, that didn't bode well.

"Not good," I muttered.

Because there wasn't anyone who was trying to slow them down, we soon reached the base of the passage and found ourselves in front of a dark red door with the Flare logo and an electronic lock with a key pad sitting right in the middle.

"I've got this!" Clemont moved forward, pulling a device out from somewhere on his person. "I've been meaning to test this for a while - it's a machine meant to break electronic locks."

"Well, that seems quite convenient," I commented.

"Shauna gets it in the game and follows the player down here," Khrista said, poking me in the side. "She uses it and gets it open, but-"

 _Krrzzt!_

Clemont jumped back from the lock in surprise as his device fell to the ground and broke into its base parts. "Shoot; it broke!"

"But the lock's open." Tails pointed at the light that was on top of the keypad, which had shifted from red to green. "We can go in anytime."

"'The longer everything goes according to plan, the bigger the impending disaster,'" Hunter quoted, "And I don't need a nose to smell trouble."

"Yeah, I agree," Camanion said, "But given the choice, let's do this." She nervously tossed one of Composite's stun grenades from hand to hand.

I nodded grimly in agreement. "Right. Let's get in there and take care of this thing before it destroys everything." I strode towards the door, the rest following close behind.

The Flare-themed door jolted, then split and slid open, revealing a dark, circular chamber with no visible ceiling, simply blackness high above their heads. In the center of the room were two pedestals with cables coming out of them, pulsing with energy. On one was what looked like a leafless, petrified tree. On the other, an egg-shaped object.

And between the two pedestals stood Xerosic, a crazed grin on his face and his hands on his hips.

"Ha! So you did come! I had predicted that you would! The masters are going to be quite pleased about this!" Xerosic rubbed his hands together eagerly, his glasses flashing despite the fact that there was very little light in the chamber.

Chills went down my spine. I clenched my fists and frowned at Xerosic, but there was a nervous feeling in my stomach. "Masters? What are you talking about?"

"You mean you haven't figured it out yet? That fool Lysandre was planning on destroying this weapon and not using it at all - a disgrace on his family name, he said! He didn't realize how much power it had, how much _potential_ for changing the world and making it over new, so that my masters could move in! And then you came along, and it gained even _more_ potential - as a way to lure you in!" Xerosic pointed at me. "My masters want you as their lead soldier, little World Jumper! And you are coming with me whether you like it or not!"

He snapped his fingers, and the pedestals spat out one cable each, catching me by surprise and coiling around my arms tightly.

"H-hey!" I pulled back, trying to pull my arms out of the cables, but their hold only tightened; the sound of metal groaning could be heard as they started to dig into my armor. "L-let me go!"

"I don't think so!"

"We do." Composite's blades flashed with telekinetic energy, almost making them look like lightsabers. They disappeared from sight and the cables fell apart with screeches of metal-on-metal. Composite reappeared, not even breathing hard from the exertion, blades still lit. They glared at Xerosic. "And next time we start cutting organic cables too."

I stumbled back and quickly regained my balance as soon as the cables fell to the ground, arms dented in slightly from the force the cables had exerted. "Owowowowowow." I let out a hiss at the pain I was feeling, but I didn't deaden my systems pain sensors. I couldn't afford to right now, and I knew that the armor would eventually fix itself.

Xerosic frowned, not startled but certainly annoyed by this rather abrupt turn of events. "We weren't expecting _you_ to get involved in this." His expression brightened. "No matter. You will all be turned over to the masters, then - they'll appreciate a few extra foot soldiers."

The tree and egg-like cocoon shook on their pedestals.

"Oh, yeah?" Khrista started hovering in the air, her shirt shimmering a myriad of colors. "Well we don't appreciate the idea of _being_ foot soldiers. Psycho Cut!"

Khrista made two downward slashing motions with her arms, sending out twin slashes of purple-pink energy at the cables that extended up from the pedestals towards whatever happened to be in the darkness high above their heads.

"Xerneas! Yveltal!" Khrista barked. "Wake up!"

I looked at Khrista sharply as the tree and the egg started to shake even more violently, now surrounded by sparks of blue energy. "What? _Those_ are the Legendaries?"

"Tch." Xerosic's brow furrowed, and he took a couple steps back, behind the pedestals. "They still have energy left? But I calculated exactly - they should be completely drained of any and all life force by now!"

"When you're draining life energy, always take more than you think they have," Hunter piped up. "Take it from someone who uses life energy as food."

"Don't give him any more ideas than he's already had!" Khrista snapped at the Metroid.

"And if you try to contact your Masters," Composite summoned their Buster, "you'll have a shell in you before you can say two words."

The two dormant forms continued to shake, then started to glow before exploding into larger shapes: a large deer with a sprawling rack of antlers, and a Y-shaped creature with its forearms resembling wings.

The light quickly faded from both, revealing that the deer was mostly blue in color, and woven in among his antlers were bands of glowing colors. The other creature was clearly bird-like, and red with black lines like thick veins spread across its wingspan, and a white, furry collar around its red and black neck.

"Whoa…" I stared up at the two Legendaries with wide eyes.

Xerneas and Yveltal eyed us, then turned their attention to Xerosic, who was starting to move back to the other side of the chamber.

 _"So, you are the one who has been causing havoc and imbalance."_ Xerneas inclined his head, looking down on Xerosic with a disdained expression.

 _"I don't think this one learned from what happened in Sinnoh."_ Yveltal's voice was gruffer than the other Legendary's, and there was an eager growl mixed in. _"I say we give this one the punishment that he deserves."_

 _"I could not agree more."_

The two Legendaries sprang down from their respective pedestals and started to move towards Xerosic, Xerneas' horns glowing with power as Yveltal's chest started emitting a brighter red color, that pulsed through his entire form.

"Do not think you can defeat the Dark Arms so easily!" Xerosic shrieked. "There is still enough energy gathered for a single shot!" He raised his hand high, thumb already pressing down on a remote control's switch.

"No!" I looked on in horror as Xerneas and Yveltal stopped short of the scientist. "You – why?!"

Composite's hand shot out and the remote went flying before the button was fully pressed.

Espeon looked up, gem flashing. "It's still hot, I think it's going to fire whether or not the remote is triggered."

 _"Yveltal, get them out of here!"_ Xerneas kicked Xerosic in the head, sending him flying against the back wall and causing the man to collapse.

Yveltal grumbled something, then turned and flew over to where we were standing. Xerneas galloped over a moment later, antlers still shining with power.

Khrista's shirt turned bright gold. "Are you thinking what I'm thinking?"

Xerneas dipped his head, leaving his antlers in reach of the group as Yveltal extended a wing. _"Grab hold, and do not let go. Hurry!"_

I latched onto Yveltal's wing instantly, gripping one of his claws. Khrista put a hand on my shoulder. Tails and Clemont ran over to Xerneas and grabbed onto one of his antlers. Risa returned to Camanion's computer as her creator latched onto an antler as well. Composite grabbed onto a claw, Hunter and Espeon landing on their shoulders, a bit of a tight squeeze, but better than nothing. Camanion held out a hand and Switch grabbed on with a grip almost tight enough to break bone.

 _"Teleport!"_ Xerneas and Yveltal shouted together as the entire cavern started to shake and rumble.

There was a bright flash, and suddenly we were standing above ground near the center of Geosenge. We caught sight of the closing top of the flower-shaped weapon dropping into the ground at a fast rate before an explosion came up from below, blowing dust and fire in all directions.

Xerneas flicked his head, and a bright blue shield came into existence between them and the explosion, protecting the group from the backlash. When it had passed, the shield dropped.

I looked around at Geosenge and let out a sigh of relief. "Everything's still here."

 _"Of course it is,"_ Yveltal grumbled. _"The weapon was to turn against itself if it was ever used again. That fool did not realize it."_

 _::Aww…::_ Risa deployed into the physical world. "I was hoping to do that myself." A brick with a large hazard symbol she was holding derezed, "Nonetheless, pretty explosion."

Yveltal chuckled darkly, a rather sinister smile crossing his face. _"Yes, quite."_

Xerneas shot him a look of disapproval, then looked down at the group. _"I thank you for coming to our and Kalos' aid. I fear that, without the actions that you have taken today, the entire region would have become very much out of balance."_

"I'm just glad that we managed to get here in time," I replied. I frowned. "Still, though, this shouldn't have happened."

 _"No, it should not have,"_ Xerneas agreed.

 _"Whatever bozo decided to interfere really should think twice before doing stuff like that,"_ Yveltal muttered.

"Xerosic mentioned something about dark arms," Khrista spoke up. She looked over at me. "I think those are the masters he was talking about - the people who decided to make this happen."

"Could be." Tails tapped his chin thoughtfully. "I haven't heard of any race with that name before, but it sounds too close to the Black Arms that Shadow fought against pre-merge."

"We were thinking the same thing. Maybe the remnants of the Black Arms allied with - or were absorbed by - another race?" Composite put on a thoughtful expression, "Of course, it could just be a coincidence, but in our experience, that's pretty uncommon."

"Well, whoever they are, they messed with the wrong world." I clenched my fists. "And if they try to set so much as a _foot_ in any dimension again to take it over, I'll be ready for them."

"Think they're your red-eyed nightmares, then?" Khrista asked.

" _Oh, yeah._ That's definitely them." My eyes sparked. "Xerosic's talk about taking me in matched with my nightmares _exactly._ Now that I know that and at least some of what they're aiming for, I know what to keep an eye on. I'll be ready the next time I see any of those black boxes."

 _"While that is all well and good, there is...something else, that has occurred here today."_ Xerneas looked back at the giant hole in the ground where the weapon had been moments before. _"The man who used this three thousand years ago exposed himself to its energies directly. As a result, he has become much more...long-lived, than most."_

 _"Which really irks me because I have been waiting to collect his soul and bring it to the afterlife ever since he set it off,"_ Yveltal growled.

"You're talking about AZ," Clemont realized. "But...what does he have to do with today?"

 _"You were exposed to that same energy."_ Xerneas lowered his head to look at Clemont first, then at the others in turn. _"While it is not as much energy as what AZ faced, you are still affected in the same manner."_

My eyes widened sharply. "You're saying we could end up living as long as AZ."

"Huh," Composite thought, then snorted. "As reckless as we - the group, that is - seem to be, we doubt that'll be as much of an issue as you'd think," They grinned, "Of course, we - personally - probably aren't even technically _alive_ by the scientific definition, so it's a bit of a non issue."

 _"Regardless, the time that a soul has in the physical realm is finite,"_ Xerneas replied. He looked at me. _"Use the time you have wisely, extended or not, eternal or not."_

I swallowed and nodded a little. On top of being a Reploid and probably living longer than most because of that, I was probably affected by this to live _even longer._

I…wasn't entirely sure how to feel about that.

Xerneas lifted his head. _"I believe it is time we took our leave of this place. Perhaps I shall do some traveling of my own, and return to my forest at the end of my time awake."_

Yveltal growled. _"The world has changed much. I would like to see how these finite creatures are coping with the changes that the Mobians brought."_ He grinned a little. _"Perhaps even see what makes them so special."_

The Legendary raised his wings, and with a powerful flap shot up into the air, climbing quickly before disappearing into the clouds above their heads. Xerneas' entire form flashed seconds later, and he disappeared from sight.

"...well, that was...different," I said finally. "Normally one of them would offer to travel with me through the eighth Gym and the Elite Four. Not that I mind it or anything - it's just...different. Huh."

Camanion smirked, "Doubt you'll need the help kid."

I laughed. "Yeah, definitely not! My team's near level 60 - they normally don't _get_ this high by now! The Elite Four's gonna be no problem." I paused. "Speaking of which, though...Team Flare's been taken care of - they're not going to be around causing anymore problems. I still want to beat the League here, but as soon as I do that, I'm planning on heading back home." I looked over at Khrista. "What about you?"

Khrista shook her head. "I graduated from high school, same as you did. I don't really need any more education back at home, and I'd kind of like to stick around here." Khrista motioned to Geosenge. "Besides, I think I fit in better here than anywhere else."

"Clemont and I should probably get back to Lumiose and let Professor Sycamore know what's happened," Tails piped up. "It'd probably be a good idea if we looked into this strange energy some, too, just in case it has other effects besides giving us near-eternal life." He paused. "Man, that's a long time…"

I nodded, then looked over at Camanion, Risa, Composite, and Hunter. "What do you guys want to do now? If you're gonna stick with me, I'm afraid you'll only be able to travel with me as far as the entrance to Victory Road - Trainers challenging the Elite Four have to take that path alone, besides their team, and I know that Hunter doesn't like the cold, so Snowbelle might not be a place you guys want to hit next."

"That depends… Hunter, where _did_ you send the ship?" Composite asked the young Metroid.

"I told them to go to Mars, but they may have bugged out to Wolf 359 when they saw the bang," Hunter bobbed slightly, somewhat nervous.

"Good. Unless they decided to disobey you, in which case they're probably thinking they could get away with the dark side of the moon or something. Bit of a bad call in that case, since they can't make repairs there," Composite thought, "We'll probably split up here. Actually…" They thought for a moment and turned to me. "You mentioned a cousin who does high tech stuff?" They pulled a flash drive out of Hammerspace, "Some data on digitizing lasers and sentient AI. It also has our comm code if you ever need to contact us. Any old device should work, the code knows where it's going," they tossed the drive.

"Whoa!" I caught the drive, a small smirk crossing my face. "Cool! Joshua's definitely gonna get a kick out of this. Thanks!"

"I'm staying with you, _Sol'buir_ ," Espeon said, " _Oy'an_ was discussing _Mando'a_ names and I think I'll go with _Ruusaan._ "

"Reliable one… good choice. And what was that you called us? _Sol'buir?_ United one…? That's good, we never thought of that… Anyway, _Ni Kyr'tayl gai sa'ad, Ruus'ika._ Welcome to the family." The newly named Ruusaan seemed to swell with pride, waving her tail in happiness.

"Actually, splitting up might not be the best idea," Camanion stated, "I still haven't finished analyzing the black boxes yet. I've got _most_ of the software decoded, but I'm about to start work on the hardware. I'm sure you'll want the results as soon as I have them."

Hunter game a slight squeal, "But I don't want to go to a snow town!"

Composite smirked and said into thin air, "Keely, get rid of him."

"I'd proba-" The Metroid vanished mid-complaint as the ship - certainly too close to have properly followed orders about distance - teleported him out.

I winced a little at that, brow furrowing.

Khrista's expression darkened. "Yeah, that's a pretty good point. Whatever it is that's going on with those boxes and the Dark Arms, it'd be a good idea if we knew what was coming with them if we ever hear from them again."

"You can use my lab in Lumiose to pick it apart," Clemont offered. "Tails and I are sharing what equipment we have, and there's plenty of computer power there if you think you need something to supplement what you already have."

"And I have Maria's comm number, so we can still get into contact with her while she's in this dimension," Tails added. "And she's going to be here for a few days yet, since she hasn't taken on the Elite Four yet. Or the eighth Gym, for that matter."

"Yeah!" I nodded in agreement. "And now that Team Flare's been taken care of, I can slow down at least a little and help my team get stronger to the point that the Kalos Elite Four won't be a problem. I figure that Delta is more than strong enough to take out the Gym in Snowbelle; it's probably an Ice one."

"Try definitely." Khrista gave a dry smirk.

"Before we go…" Composite mused, "Hey Maria, you wanna have a quick spar?"

I inclined my head at the question. "A spar? Hm. Well, I don't see why not." I shrugged. "I _had_ thought that I'd end up fighting myself more against Team Flare, but other than what happened in the base before we went after Xerosic, I haven't really had to do much." I smirked a little. "So I guess I'm not against it."

"If you're gonna spar, you probably shouldn't do it so close to that pit." Khrista pointed at the giant hole next to us.

"You make a good point. Our situational awareness is pretty good, but even we fail to notice a pitfall on occasion. Usually to our detriment." Composite nodded and glanced around. "Nice clearing over there though. How's that?"

"Yeah, that'll work." Khrista nodded. "It's far enough away from town and the gravestones on Route 10 to put them in harm's way."

"Should I fight too?" _Ruusaan_ asked.

Composite laughed, "No _ad'ika,_ while the best way to win a one-on-one fight _may_ be to be the third person to show up, there's a difference between a friendly spar and a full battle."

"Definitely." I nodded. "Spars are more like training, when you're testing the other person. Battles are when you're aiming to knock them to the ground and have them beg for mercy."

"With that said," Composite headed over to the clearing, _"Duu'mhi geroya,_ Let's play," they drew their blades, ensured they were properly dulled, and assumed a ready position.

I followed after Composite and took up a position across the clearing from her. A smirk went across my face for a moment before it was replaced with a determined expression, and I took up a somewhat defensive stance with my fists up in front of me. Sparks of fire flew off the tips of my knuckles.

Clemont pushed his glasses further up his nose. "This is going to be interesting. I haven't seen the Champion of Five Regions face off against an opponent like this before."

"It'll definitely be interesting to see how much stronger Maria's gotten since I last saw her," Tails agreed.

Composite inclined their head to their opponent, "Let's do this." They shot forward, blades swinging in from left and right.

I ducked down and shot forward, flames starting to lick at my shoulders before covering my upper half in a sudden wave of energy in my own form of a Flame Charge.

Composite yelped and dove out of the way, slashing at my legs on the way past.

I yelped and stumbled, Composite's blades scraping against my armor as they went past. I managed to regain my balance and spun on one foot to face Composite again, my right arm shifting into my Buster as she went. I quickly aimed at Composite and fired a Stun Shot.

"Bad idea." Composite's left hand flashed out, absorbing the electric attack and sending it back in a beam of arcing electricity.

Scrap, I forgot they did stuff like that.

"Ya!" I moved to get out of the beam's way by scrambling to the left, but an arching branch off the main beam still hit me anyway, causing my right arm to go limp, sparks shooting off it. I hissed at the pain of it, then held up my left hand and started shooting fireballs at Composite.

Composite yelped and dodged, their right hand taking some damage from the assault.

"Don't think this is gonna be easy!" I clenched my left fist tightly, and my blade shot out. I covered it in flames a moment later, and I lunged forward, aiming to slash at Composite's legs myself.

Composite grimaced and leapt in a flip, barely evading the slash and bringing the flat of their left sword on the top of my head. "We wouldn't have it any other way!"

The blade collided with its intended target. "Ow!" I landed on the ground, face-first, then looked up with an annoyed snarl before I _spat_ a fireball at Composite and scrambled to my feet.

Composite's left arm blackened from the heat. "You're strong with your element. Changing tactics!" Composite jumped up the same way they would to transform into Ada. Green energy swirled around them and they transformed into a matte gray robot with three rotating weapon arms below and a physical shield in front.

The sparks stopped flying off my right arm as I took a step back in surprise at the transformation; I blinked a couple times before I grinned. I aimed my Buster at Composite again, only this time she shot out an orange orb of energy - my default shot. Then I started running around the clearing as my Buster started to glow, gathering energy.

The robot deflected the small shot off of its shield and brought two of its weapons into line. Both activated, firing a stream of flaming rubber bullets.

"Ow! Flash-ow-Fire!" I took the hits from the rubber bullets as they bounced off my armor, leaving nearly unnoticeable dents as their flames were abruptly sucked from them on contact. Then I aimed my Buster at the robot. "Charged Buster Shot!"

The explosion of orange energy that came out was bigger than my head.

The robot emitted a mechanical shriek, attempting to both dodge and angle its shield to deflect as much of the attack as possible, but still took the brunt of the blast. It seemed to skid backward, the relatively weak weapon arms squealing in protest at the unaccustomed g-forces. It seemed to shake itself and reconfigured its weapons, replacing fire with electricity.

I had _not_ been expecting the abrupt change in weaponry, and ended up paying for being in the line of the bullets. My movements stumbled, and a shield of fire quickly flashed into existence and sent the bullets bouncing in different directions as sparks flew from my joints; I wasn't going to be able to move very much until it wore off.

I growled in frustration, fire starting to gather on my twitching limbs. "Come on, come on...Fire Blast!"

An explosion of flames whipped out from me in a five-pronged shape towards Composite.

Composite swirled with energy and transformed into some sort of crocodile-like creature that was clearly meant to anchor to a wall. The fire blast had _some_ effect, but less than it would have on the robot and certainly less than it would have on Composite's normal form. Once the flames died down, they transformed into a purple humanoid with green highlights on its arms, firing three long streams of energy from its hands.

I yelped and rolled in order to avoid the energy streams, taking my shield of fire with me. Two of them missed, but one hit me in the foot, shooting a neat hole through her armor.

I let out a mechanical shriek that caused our audience to flinch back at the noise, then glared at Composite's new form as fire started to gather even more over my form. "White Flare!"

The explosion of red-white fire split into multiple tendrils and shot at Composite from multiple angles, boxing them in.

The crocodile-thing gave an angry chatter and exploded into tendrils of red energy that slipped through any crack they could find and reformed Composite on the outside. "Okay… that was good… Our turn…" Their voice reconfigured into a loud shriek, "HEARTS ON FIRE… STRONG DESIRE… RAGES DEEP WITHIN…"

"Gah!" I stumbled back, my fire shield flickering and dying at the noise as I clapped my hands over my ears in order to block out the noise as much as I could.

"That's Maria's Theme!" Khrista exclaimed in surprise.

"Her _what?"_ Tails looked at Khrista in confusion.

"It's music that resonates with her a little," Khrista explained quickly. "I heard it last year, but…" She frowned in confusion. "How does _Composite_ know it?"

"Happy accident," Composite said, returning their voice to normal, "Just happened to be playing when we cut loose. We always play music in our helmet in combat, helps us with rhythm. Good song though."

I waited for a second, then lowered my hands from my ears with a wince as Khrista nodded. _"Geez,_ that was loud." I winced and put a hand to my left ear, standing more on my right leg than my left, which had the hole from the energy beam cut through it. "My ears are still ringing a little. I'm definitely gonna need some repairs…." I shook my head, trying to get rid of the ringing.

Composite remained in a defensive pose for a few seconds before sheathing their blades and saying, "And…. Endex. Sorry about the foot."

I looked down at my left foot. "At least you didn't cut it clean off. Khrista, you mind blasting me? I want to try something."

"Not a problem." Khrista's shirt turned a deep red, and she breathed in before spitting out a flamethrower, encasing me completely in flames.

"Flash Fire!"

The fire was sucked into my form; the dents in my armor from the little rubber bullets suddenly came undone with the sound of hail hitting a tin roof, and the hole in my foot closed in on itself.

Tails came over instantly and grabbed my foot before I could put it on the ground. "It's almost like it wasn't even cut through!" He looked up. "How did you know that would work?"

"I didn't." I shrugged. "I just figured that, since I get energy back from absorbing fire, it could help fix things. And I guess it does!" I laughed a little, looking down at my foot with something of an amazed expression. "I'll have to remember that next time I go up against someone and I don't have anything nearby to do repairs."

"How did you…? I knew you could transform but… I didn't know it could affect your skills and abilities," Ruusaan asked, almost lost for words.

"Oh, that? Well… we can get morph forms in two ways. We can make them ourselves, like we did with Ada and our ball form," Composite briefly transformed into.a red sphere roughly one meter in diameter. "Or we can copy them, like we did with the forms we used in battle." They attempted to transform into another form, but the energy exploded away from them early, prompting a yelp, "Okay, apparently we _can't_ use Samus's form here. Must be a range thing. We can't use the same form as someone who currently occupies the same dimension, though there are some exceptions apparently. Like say the Zebesian form we used comes from the same as Samus. Apparently grunts have less limitations than others."

"Well, Samus and Pokemon are both part of the same group when it comes to video games," Khrista pointed out. "I wouldn't be surprised if she'd be able to cross over and stop by here every once in a while."

"Here's hoping that if she does she doesn't point her weaponry at anybody," I responded as Tails let go of my foot.

"In our experience, Samus doesn't shoot first, she waits for the other person to attack. And then annihilates them. Unless it's Ridley, and then she skips the waiting part. Understandable if you know their history," Composite replied.

"I doubt she will," Tails responded. "If she knows about Pokemon because of the Smash tournaments, she knows how things work around here at least a little." He looked over at Clemont and Camanion. "Do you guys want to head back to Lumiose now? It's early afternoon, so there's plenty of time to get started on analyzing the data in those mind control devices."

"Now's as good a time as any," Camanion nodded.

Tails nodded, then looked over at Switch, who had been pretty quiet over the course of the match. "What about you?"

"I'm sticking with my mentor. I've got nothing left in Kalos to stay for," Switch replied. "I'm willing to help with the analysis."

"And the more help you guys get, the sooner we can get answers," I said with a determined nod. I considered saying something else, then looked over at Composite and cocked my head to one side curiously. "That copy thing. Does it let you copy pretty much anybody you come in contact with?"

"Well… probably. We've got a form that wouldn't fit in this clearing," Composite said cautiously.

My eyebrows shot up at that. "Wha - really?"

"Why are you asking them that?" Khrista asked, frowning. "It's not like you can do that." Her eyes narrowed. "Can you?"

I snorted and waved off Khrista's stare. "Nah, nah; I've only got my firepower and that's it; I don't have a Copy Chip or whatever it is that Rock and Xavier use to copy weapons." I looked at Composite. "It's just that, well, all things considered, I was wondering if you've got all your weaknesses covered."

"Not really, fire's still a bit of an issue for us," Composite thought for a moment. "It mostly bypasses our data shell and can hit physical components."

"I was wondering why those things fell apart so easily back in the Flare base," I muttered. "I've got a natural defense against it causing me harm, so maybe I'd be able to give you some help against things like that."

"We can see that working…" Composite placed their hand on my shoulder, "Download!" Their appearance flickered, matching mine for a second before returning to normal.

I instinctively shuddered as I felt something go up and down my entire form, but I felt it mostly in my spine.

"Maria?" Khrista asked in concern.

"I'm fine." I stepped back a little, shaking my head. "Just felt like Ratchet with that medical scanner. Bit too ticklish for my liking."

Composite's hand jerked back, "Something did _not_ like that."

I blinked at that, then frowned. "What do you-"

"The Protocol!" Tails blurted out.

I stiffened at that, eyes widening. "Oh, yeah...that thing."

"The… Protocol?" Camanion asked, unable to stop herself.

Sensing that it was a sensitive subject, Composite said, "Must be some sort of defense system. Something like ours."

"...something like that," I said carefully. "It didn't do anything when you copied my abilities, did it?"

"It sort of scanned our own process and then must have decided that we weren't doing anything we shouldn't be and ignored us. All it really did was warn us to disconnect quickly," Composite shrugged. "It must have specific parameters that we didn't violate."

I rubbed the back of my neck. "Yeah, it does that. Last program that decided it wanted to slip in wanted to do a few things that my systems wouldn't have liked, so it got kicked out rather violently."

"Brainiac?" Khrista asked.

I shook my head. "Limited Virus, at the start of the summer."

"Oh." Khrista blinked a couple times. "Must've happened after I left."

I snorted. "Probably, yeah. Either that, or you popped out after Joshua and I left and before we came back." I looked over at Composite. "I'm glad it didn't think you were too dangerous; I don't know what would have happened then, and I don't think I want to find out."

"We don't either," Composite nodded, "We didn't sense much of its usage - and we didn't try - but we did sense enough to tell that it's got teeth, and from what you've said, sharp ones."

"Considering what it defends against, it has to," Tails replied. He looked at me, cocking his head to one side as he looked her up and down. "Well, you look and sound like you've been able to keep yourself in one piece, so I guess I shouldn't be too worried, huh?" He smiled a little, then pulled out a PokeBall, releasing an Alakazam. "Alec, we're gonna need a teleport back to the lab in Lumiose."

 _"Just say the word."_ Alec dipped his head in an elegant nod.

Tails looked over at Clemont, Switch, and Camanion. "Whenever you guys are ready."

 _"Qapla',"_ Camanion nodded to Composite. Risa returned to her computer, ready for transport.

"Eh… keep trying. Anyway, _Ret'urcye mhi,"_ Composite responded.

Switch nodded, "Let's go."

Tails motioned the group closer to Alec, and the Pokemon's spoons flashed before they disappeared in a bright pink-purple flash, leaving Khrista, and Composite, and me standing alone.

"Well, I guess we're starting to split, then." I sighed and looked over at Composite. "So, where are you headed next?"

"Honestly, not sure." Composite thought for a moment and transformed into Ada, "We'll probably just wander for a bit, put Ruu through her paces, eventually head out to somewhere. Either I'll know by then or we'll just choose somewhere and show up."

Hunter teleported down, _"Bu'ir,_ what'd you do that for?"

"Didn't want to listen to your complaining about the ice, which we aren't going to, so I thought you'd want to say goodbye," Ada shrugged at the irritated Metroid, before cheering him up by opening a brief argument, "And if I _ever_ catch you sitting in my seat again, I'll push you out the airlock!"

"I can take it, you know I can!" Hunter squealed indignantly.

"And yet you complain about being too cold at the freezing point of water," Ada pointed out, "When you survive just fine at absolute zero. Anyway, we'll continue this conversation later," She inclined her head to Khrista and me. " _Ret'urcye mhi,_ maybe we'll meet again."

"Yeah, maybe." Maria nodded as Khrista inclined her head.

 _"Ad'ike,_ let's go," Ada nodded to Hunter and Ruusaan. The three turned and walked off in no particular direction.

I looked over at Khrista. "We should probably get moving, too. Snowbelle isn't going anywhere, but I don't want to keep that Gym Leader waiting for long!" I grinned widely.

"Of course not." Khrista rolled her eyes a little, smirking. "Want me to teleport us back to Anistar or…?"

"Walking'll be fine, I think. We can cut back to Lumiose and make our way over that way." I motioned for Khrista to follow me as I started towards the south of Geosenge. "Come on!"

"Yeah, yeah." Khrista chuckled, then followed after me.

 **And the Kalos arc is complete!**

 **We've got one more chapter to go before I can say this thing is completely wrapped up, though! I'm planning on posting it either tomorrow or Saturday, and then I can start with the _next_ story in a couple of weeks or so. It's going to be another X-overs one, so make sure to keep an eye out when this story is finished!**


	77. The End of Exploration

**Here we are...the end of things.**

 **Thanks for being around for this whirlwind of a tale, those who have reviewed and those who have not. For we have reached a Turning Point in Maria's World Jumping career.**

 **Chapter 77 – The End of Exploration**

Maria stepped onto the familiar street as the blue glow faded behind her, a triumphant grin on her face. Having just beaten the Kalos Elite Four and been crowned Champion for the sixth time in her Trainer career, she was in very high spirits and feeling like she was on top of the world.

"Man, I can't wait to tell them about..." Her voice trailed off.

Something was wrong.

The sky was an eerie, ominous red instead of the bright, friendly blue it was supposed to be. Four figures were standing on the sidewalk in front of her house - two large, monstrous and muscular humanoid creatures with black and red, blotchy, leathery skin, were holding what looked like guns up against two humans - a man with brown hair and blue eyes, and a woman with green eyes and frizzy black hair.

Maria recognized them immediately.

"Mom! Dad!" Maria started running forward, metal boots connecting with the asphalt under her feet.

"Maria, stop!" Morgen barked.

Maria skidded to a halt, a confused expression on her face. "Dad, what-"

"You have to go! Don't worry about us!" Katie tried to pull her arms out of the clawed hand that was holding them above her head, but it was obvious that the grip was too strong for her to do so. "They're looking for you!"

"For me?!"

One of the black creatures snarled something in a throaty language that Maria couldn't identify.

"Don't worry about us!" Morgen ordered. "Just get out of here!"

"Not without you!" Maria's voice broke in a panic. Something in her reminded her of information that Camanion had found a few days before she'd challenged the Kalos League. _Are these guys...? Oh, no... No no no no. How could they have-_

"Maria, you're going to have to!" Katie's eyes were watering just as much as Maria's were now. "Tell Matthew, Collin, and Liz that we love them."

Maria shook her head, disbelieving. "Mom...Dad..."

The monsters snarled something to each other, and they raised their guns and pointed them at the backs of Maria's parents' heads.

"Maria! GO!" the two yelled together, squeezing their eyes shut.

 _BRRRZP!_

Twin red lasers were shot at the same time, zapping the two human forms. Any color they had faded to a deep gray, and their bodies crumbled into piles of ash.

Maria's eyes widened in shock at the sight, her breath hitching at the sudden act of violence, the smell of burned flesh in the air, and the sudden non-existence of her parents.

 _Error. Error. Cannot compute._

Maria was not frozen for long.

When the monsters stepped on the ash piles and laughed with tones that sounded smooth and rough at the same time, her eyes narrowed with anger, and Maria clenched her teeth as flames coated her arms.

If Maria was thinking now, there was only one thing on her mind: taking out these monsters for murdering her parents right in front of her. She didn't care that she could guess who they were, or as to what they were there for. They had just _killed her parents_ and they were _not_ going to get away with it.

With a roar of anger, she charged towards the monsters, shock and rage holding back whatever grief she might have had over what she had just witnessed - and any fear of what exactly the black-and-red monsters actually _were._

She was so focused on the two that had just killed her parents that she didn't notice a third monster come up behind her and level a different kind of weapon at her.

 _Bzzzrpt!_

Maria screamed in pain as electricity arched over her armor, scrambling her circuits and causing her vision and hearing to suddenly fizz and pop with static. She felt her joints lock up, and she fell to the ground as her systems automatically started to shut down in response to the influx of energy. She tried to fight it, but she already wasn't able to move, much less hear or make use of her power.

One of the alien monsters came over and picked Maria up, wrapping its claws around her middle and letting her arms, legs, and head hang limp.

She caught sight of a dark-haired boy in blue and green armor standing a short distance away behind one of the houses, a shocked look on his usually more guarded face.

Maria tried to call out to Joshua, but by then her voicebox had shut down because of the energy influx, and her vision clouded over with static before going black.

 **I don't have much time.**

 **They are coming for me because of my connection to Maria, and the power I have as someone who observes the Multiversial cosmos. I'm going to have to go into hiding for a while, to keep them off my tail.**

 **Or tails, since I've got nine. Whatever.**

 **The point for this is that I am not going to be able to say anything for a while when I post stories, but they will be posted. It's just…they may be erratic, depending on whether or not I have to run or if I have time to hide.**

 **You can blame the Dark Arms for that.**


End file.
